


If This Is What It Takes

by directorsharpie



Series: If This Is What It Takes Universe [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, Ava is a big softie, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, TW: Mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2020-07-11 13:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 82,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19928755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/directorsharpie/pseuds/directorsharpie
Summary: “This is the best I can do unless by some miracle there is a family willing to take her in,” Maria said, Ava’s head snapped to look at Sara, and the smaller blonde could tell exactly what Ava was thinking.“What about us? What if we take her?” Sara questioned and the woman by her side just let out a sarcastic laugh.“It’s not that easy, you can’t just take her home with you, you would have to get a foster license first before even thinking about adopting her,” Maria rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the papers.“How do we get a foster license?”orSara and Ava foster a small girl who appears on the Waverider after a mission.





	1. One

“Aves I’m home,” Sara called out into the silent apartment that she shared with her girlfriend. She slipped her shoes off and left them near the door, she made her way towards the kitchen and living area, only to find it empty, “Ava?” Sara called out again when she received no response the first time. She made her way up to the bedroom when she realized that it was almost midnight. 

The bedroom was dark and like the rest of the house, it was silent apart from the sound of Ava’s breathing. Sara quickly changed into some sleep shorts and a tank top before crawling into bed. 

The next morning Sara woke up to the bright sunlight streaming into the bedroom making it impossible for her to fall back to sleep. She let out a small displeased sound and rolled onto her side expecting to find Ava next to her, instead she was met with an empty bed. Not even five minutes later Ava walked into the bedroom with a basket full of clothes, she grabbed the clothes that Sara had left on the floor the night before and put them in the basket with the others; she picked up some more clothes that needed to be washed and left before she even realized Sara was awake. 

The smaller blonde dragged herself out of bed, she let out a groan the second she moved to stand up, her muscles felt like they were on fire from the fight with the fugitive the previous day. She quickly got over the pain and headed downstairs to go and find her girlfriend. 

“Morning,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face. She was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and a bunch of papers spread out in front of her.

“Morning,” Sara replied as she sat down in the empty seat next to Ava. They sat in a comfortable silence as Ava looked over some reports from missions throughout the week, once she finished she turned her full attention to Sara, who was almost falling asleep again. She was still exhausted from yesterday’s mission, every muscle in her body ached like never before, Ava noticed her discomfort the second she looked up from the papers. 

“What’s wrong? Did you get hurt yesterday?” Ava questioned her eyes scanning Sara’s body for any visible injuries and her shoulders relaxed slightly when she couldn’t see any. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine I just ache, there was this little girl probably no older than 5 who almost got killed by the fugitive so I jumped in front of her and landed weird,” Sara explained and Ava reached over and took her hand into her own, interlocking their fingers, she slowly brought them up to her lips and kissed each of Sara’s bruised knuckles. 

“Did you have Gideon check you out when you got back to the Waverider?” Ava asked softly. Sara shook her head and Ava shot a glare in her direction, “why not?”

“Because I was tired, I just wanted to come home and cuddle with you in bed,” Sara said and the glare quickly disappeared off of Ava’s face and a soft smile took its place. 

“That’s sweet babe, but you are going to get checked out, come on let’s go get dressed,” Ava said tapping Sara’s hand lightly before she stood up from her seat and headed upstairs. Sara knew there was no way she was going to get out of having Gideon check her over so instead of fighting with Ava over it she simply stood up and followed Ava upstairs. 

They each did their morning routines, Sara was in the bathroom brushing her teeth while Ava was getting dressed in the bedroom. She put on some black gym leggings paired with a Time Bureau hoodie, luckily it was a Saturday and she didn’t have to worry about dressing up for work. She was fully dressed and making the bed when Sara finally emerged from the bathroom. The smaller blonde quickly changed into a similar outfit to Ava and once they were both ready Ava opened a portal to the Waverider. 

They stepped through and the second it closed behind them they were surrounded by the Legends. 

“Thank god you’re here, we tried to call you but Gideon said that we weren’t allowed to disturb you,” Zari said her voice sounded relieved and that made Ava and Sara both a little suspicious. 

“What have you guys done now?” Sara questioned with a sigh. She glanced around the ship to try and find any damages that they had caused, but there were none. The ship looked normal which made her worry a little more. 

“We haven’t done anything, we just have a problem and we didn’t really know what to do,” Zari explained before she and the rest of the Legends started to head towards the cargo bay, Sara and Ava shared a worried glance before following the team. 

They stopped just outside the cargo bay door and turned to look at Sara and Ava. “Okay before we go in there please don’t flip out she’s a little scared,” Nate said and the confusion became clear on the two women’s faces, but they followed the team into the cargo bay anyway, and in the corner was a small girl who looked around five-years-old. 

The young girl had blonde hair that ended just past her shoulders and pale skin that was covered in freckles much like Sara. Her eyes were a dark blue color, and instead of them being filled with childish wonder, they were dull and showed just how broken the girl was; even at such a young age. She wouldn’t move from the corner, where she was sat with her knees tucked tightly against her chest with her thumb in her mouth. 

“We tried to get her to move but I think she’s scared,” Zari explained to the two women. Ava and Sara shared a look of sadness before Ava slowly made her way over to the young girl and sat down in front of her with crossed legs. 

“Hi I’m Ava, what’s your name?” Ava said keeping her voice calm and gentle so that she didn’t scare the girl even more. She didn’t respond to Ava’s question and instead, she removed her thumb from her mouth and pulled her knees closer to her chest; it was almost as if she was trying to protect herself with them. Ava shuffled away from the girl slightly when it became clear that her being that close was scaring the young girl. 

“You know it’s okay to be scared, this place is pretty big and it makes funny noises sometimes which can be scary, even for me,” Ava paused for a moment when the girl finally looked up at her. “But you don’t need to be scared because we aren’t going to hurt you, we want to help you, we just need to know your name okay?” Ava said and the girl nodded her head

She looked around the room at the other Legends with a nervous look on her face and shrunk in on herself again. Sara took that as a sign of her being uncomfortable with so many people around her so she ushered the legends out leaving Ava alone with the young girl. 

“Riley,” the girl said quietly when everyone had left the room. 

“Riley, that such a pretty name,” Ava said and the girl looked up at her with a shy smile on her face. She didn't respond so Ava carried on talking to her to try and help her become more comfortable around her. “My girlfriend is going to love your name, Riley is her favorite name,” Ava said and that seemed to help calm the girl down, the thought of someone loving something about her meant that they probably wouldn’t hurt her. She loosened her grip around her knees and shuffled a little closer to Ava.

“I like your name, my friend is called Ava,” Riley said quietly and if the room wasn't as quiet as it was Ava would have missed it. 

“Really? That’s awesome, what is your friend like?” Ava said enthusiastically, she was trying her best to keep the young girl talking about things that she was familiar with, and it seemed to be working because the more questions she asked the more the scared look in her eyes faded away. 

“She is really kind, she plays with me when my uncle is being mean, he sometimes leaves me alone and then he comes back and yells a lot it's scary,” Riley explained, with a sad expression on her face. 

“Does he hurt you?” Ava questioned and this earned her a terrified look from the girl in front of her. “You can tell me it’s okay, I won’t let anything happen to you,” Ava said as she looked over at the girl with an encouraging smile on her face. 

Instead of answering the question she looked down at her hands in her lap, avoiding any eye contact with Ava, and she knew that this wasn't a good topic; because Riley was visibly shrinking in on herself. Her knees were back up against her chest and her forehead was resting on top of her knees. 

“Hey, it’s okay you’re safe nobody is going to hurt you,” Ava said softly and Riley lifted her head and looked at Ava with tears rolling down her cheeks. “Would you like a hug?” Ava questioned and the young girl nodded her head as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. Ava opened her arms and moved closer to Riley, the girl was a little hesitant at first to move closer to Ava but she did it and sat down in her lap, with her face buried in Ava’s chest as she let out small sobs. Ava slowly rocked them from side to side as she ran her hand up and down the girls back to help her calm down. 

“I promise you, nobody is going to hurt you anymore sweetie,” Ava whispered into the top of Riley’s head once her sobs stopped. “How would you feel about going to meet the others, we need to get you checked out to make sure you aren’t hurt, and then we can get some food, are you up for that?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head against Ava’s chest. 

She moved from Ava’s lap and stood up when Ava did, Gideon opened the doors to the cargo bay for them and they headed towards the med bay. Riley held onto Ava’s hand like her life depended on it, she refused to move more than a few centimeters away from Ava’s side. When they reached the med bay, Ava helped Riley up onto the bed and the fear had reappeared in Riley’s eyes. 

“It’s okay sweetie, I’m going to put this on your wrist so Gideon can make sure you aren’t hurt, is that okay?” Ava questioned and she didn’t move until Riley nodded her head and then she slipped the bracelet onto Riley’s wrist and Gideon began her check-up. 

“Director Sharpe, it appears that two of her ribs are fractured and there are multiple bruises on her upper arms,” Gideon explained and Ava felt her heart stop for a second, because how could anyone hurt such a sweet girl. She quickly composed herself and kept her emotions at bay because it would only make it worse for Riley if she saw Ava getting upset; the girl was already scared enough. 

“Oh sweetheart, why didn’t you say that you were hurting?” Ava asked softly and in that moment she wanted nothing more than to pull the young girl into a hug, but she didn’t because she didn’t want to startle her. Instead, she just crouched down next to the bed so that she was closer to Riley. 

“My uncle said that I’m not allowed to tell people that I’m hurt, because then he will get taken away and I don’t want to be left alone again,” Riley explained and Ava looked up at the ceiling for a second and blinked back the tears that were filling up in her eyes. 

“From now on you tell people when you’re hurt okay? You aren’t going to be alone again I promise, Gideon needs to put you to sleep so that she can get you all fixed up, but I will be here the whole time,” Ava said and Riley looked scared, she tried to move out of the seat but she didn’t get very far because of the wires that were connecting her to Gideon. 

“Can I hold your hand?” Riley questioned and Ava nodded her head and gently grabbed onto Riley’s small hand. The contact seemed to help relax the young girl and Gideon got to work with healing her. When she was sleeping her grip on Ava’s hand loosened but the taller woman didn’t move from her side, even when Sara came into the room she stayed by Riley’s side. 

“How is she?” Sara asked as she moved over to stand next to her girlfriend. 

“She’s going to be okay, but I managed to get her to speak and she told me that her uncle is abusive towards her,” Ava said, glancing over at the girls sleeping form. She looked so peaceful, it was a refreshing sight because Ava hated seeing her so upset. Ava turned to look up at her girlfriend and she could see the anger burning in her eyes at the revelation, and Ava could tell that she was about to leave the waverider and give the girls uncle a piece of her mind. 

“Sara, whatever you’re thinking right now, stop, more violence isn’t going to make this situation better, she needs people to take care of her right now. We can deal with her uncle later on right now we need to focus on her, okay?” Ava said, her hand was still holding onto the small girls hand and Sara moved closer into Ava’s side and the two of them looked down at the girls sleeping form. 

“I know, I just don’t understand how someone could do that to her she’s just a kid,” Sara mumbled. 

“I know how you feel though babe, we only just met her like half an hour ago but, I have this overwhelming need to protect her from the world, what are we going to do with her?” Ava questioned, and Sara just shrugged her shoulders. 

“She can’t stay on the waverider there’s no room,” Sara stated and Ava hummed in agreement.

“We could take her back to the apartment with us? She can sleep in the guest room tonight and then tomorrow we can figure out how we are going to go about this situation?” Ava said and Sara agreed immediately, she pulled away from Ava’s side and started walking towards the door; but she came to a stop when she reached the doorway. 

“Wait you said she told you her name right?” Sara questioned and Ava looked over at her girlfriend with a confused look but nodded her head anyway, she told her girlfriend the young girls name and with that Sara nodded her head and left the room. Ava’s eyes didn’t leave the spot where her girlfriend was just standing until she felt a slight tug on her hand. 

“Hey, hey, you’re okay,” Ava said softly when she noticed the panicked look on Riley’s face. “Gideon, how is she doing?”  
“She is healed, Director,” Gideon responded and Ava let go of the small hand and moved to the other side of the bed to remove the bracelet from Riley’s wrist. 

“Thank you, Gideon,” Ava said before moving around the bed to stand in her original spot next to Riley. “Are you hungry?” Ava questioned and Riley stayed silent but nodded her head. Ava helped her get off of the bed and headed out of the room with Riley trailing behind her, they were about to turn into the kitchen when she felt a small hand grab onto hers, she looked down and Riley was by her side holding onto her hand like her life depended on it. 

They reached the kitchen and luckily it was empty because she didn’t want Riley to feel overwhelmed by the Legends all crowding around in the kitchen. “What is your favorite food?” Ava questioned but she didn’t receive an answer Riley just looked down at the ground with her face scrunched up like she was hard in thought. “Do you like chicken nuggets?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head quickly, she sat Riley down at the table and moved over to the fabricator to get some food for the small girl. 

It didn't take long for Gideon to fabricate the chicken nuggets for her and the second she set the plate down in front of the girl she began to eat them. She ate them so quickly that Ava thought that she was just swallowing the food without chewing it, and she was amused by it at first because she had never seen anybody eat so fast. However, the amusement quickly turned into concern when she realized that the girl probably hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a while. That made her stomach twist into something that felt a lot like anger. 

“Do you want more?” Ava asked when Riley had finished eating, the girl shook her head. She moved the plate into the sink and lead Riley out towards the bridge where she expected Sara to be. 

When they got there the whole team, including Mick and John, were all crowded around the screens in the middle of the room. Sara noticed her girlfriends presence immediately and turned on her heel to move closer to her. When Sara was standing in front of Ava, Riley quickly moved from her side and hid behind her legs.

Sara crouched down in front of her and began talking to the girl, “it’s okay Riley, nobody here is going to hurt you, I promise, we want to help you,” Sara said softly but the girl didn't budge from her spot behind Ava, instead, the taller blonde moved to crouch down next to Sara.

“Remember when I told you that my girlfriend would love your name?” Ava questioned and waited for Riley to nod her head before she carried on speaking, Riley nodded her head slightly, “this is my girlfriend Sara,” Ava pointed towards Sara with her thumb and Riley seemed to relax a little. 

“Do you wanna watch some cartoons?” Sara asked and Riley nodded her head. Sara stood up and held her hand out for Riley to grab a hold of when she did Sara led her over to the office, she sat Riley down on the brown leather chair in the corner and put cartoons on the screen in front of her. 

Ava watched the two of them for a few moments until she heard Zari calling her name. “Is everything okay?” She asked and Zari nodded her head but pointed towards the screen, Ava quickly moved so she could get a closer look.

The screen showed what appeared to be Riley’s files. Ava read through them and she quickly found out that both of her parents had died in a car accident when she was three and the only other person in her family was her uncle. The files also stated that she was born in New York, March 5th, 2015; making her five-years-old. Her uncle works as a mechanic at his own garage, and the two of them live in a small apartment in Washington DC. 

Ava read over her files multiple times, when she finally looked up from the screen the team had disappeared, Zari was the only one still standing around the console. She glanced around the room and noticed that Sara and Riley were still sitting in the chair together watching cartoons, a small smile crept onto her face at the sight. 

“She seems comfortable around you two,” Zari said bringing Ava’s attention back to the dark-haired woman in front of her. She didn’t respond to Zari instead she just smiled at her. “Who knew our badass captain would melt at the sight of a kid,” Zari joked earning a light chuckle from Ava. 

“I know,” Ava glanced over at her girlfriend who had Riley sitting on her lap as they laughed at the cartoon. “I’m gonna go and get the guest bedroom ready for her, call me if you need me,” Ava said as she opened a portal to hers and Sara’s apartment, she was about to step through when she felt a small hand grab onto hers. She turned to see Riley standing there with a worried expression on her face and seconds later Sara came up behind her. “It’s okay Riley, I will be right back.” 

Riley still didn't let go of her hand, “can I go with you?” she asked quietly and Ava nodded her head and stepped through the portal with Sara was about to follow them through the portal but she quickly turned around and headed down the hallways of the Waverider. A few minutes later she opened a portal to their apartment and headed up to the guest bedroom where she assumed the two of them would be. She was correct, Ava was changing the bedding while Riley was sitting in the corner of the room on the armchair playing some game on Ava’s phone. 

“Hey babe, where did you go?” Ava questioned when she noticed her girlfriend lingering in the doorway. 

“I forgot to grab the clothes Gideon fabricated for her,” Sara explained holding them up in front of her for Ava to see. She moved to put them on top of the drawers at the other end of the wall. They spent about half an hour getting the bedroom ready for Riley, and the rest of the night they did everything they could to make sure she was comfortable. The three of them ate dinner, or in Riley’s case pushed the food around her plate, in a comfortable silence until Riley spoke up. 

“Are you going to make me go back to Uncle Mike?” Riley asked as she looked between Ava and Sara her eyes full of fear, and when the two of them shook their heads it seemed to disappear a little. 

“You never have to see that man again sweetie,” Sara reassured the girl, Riley didn’t say anything else after that. They did manage to get her to tell them what her favorite movie was so that they could watch it together after dinner, but she fell asleep halfway through watching The Lion King. 

The two of them put her to bed and watched over her for a little while to make sure that she was okay and when they were convinced that she was fine they headed to bed themselves. It was around 11 pm when they had both fallen asleep but Sara was woken up by something tapping her shoulder. She untangled herself from Ava’s embrace and sat up to see what it was, she was met with Riley’s small form standing next to the bed.

“Are you okay Riley?” Sara asked keeping her voice quiet so that they didn’t wake Ava up. 

“I had a bad dream,” Riley said, it was clear in her voice that she was crying, and Sara moved to pull her into a hug without even thinking, but the girl flinched and jumped backward. “I’m sorry I’ll go back to sleep,” Riley mumbled before rushing out of the room. Sara quickly got out of bed and followed Riley back into the guest bedroom, when she got to the room Riley was curled up in a little ball in the middle of the bed with the sheets pulled tightly over her head. 

“Hey Riley,” Sara said softly as she sat down on the edge of the bed, Riley didn’t respond to her instead she seemed to make herself even smaller than she already was. It was as if she was trying to hide from Sara, “sweetie I’m not going to hurt you, I promise I was only going to give you a hug but I won’t do that unless you want me to okay?” Sara said and Riley poked her head out from under the covers and looked over at Sara. “Do you want to talk about your bad dream?” Sara asked Riley, shook her head and moved from under the covers and shuffled closer to Sara. 

“I don’t want to go back to my uncle, can I stay here with you?” Riley broke the silence between them, her question catching Sara by surprise, she didn’t really know how to respond, because she couldn’t say that she could stay with them because that is a conversation that she and Ava needed to have. Were they even ready to take care of a kid? They joked about the Legends being their children a lot, but that’s a little different to taking care of and raising an actual child. 

“You don’t have to go back to him Riley,” Sara said and Riley leaned against her, Sara slowly moved to wrap her arms around the girl, careful not to scare her again. Luckily she didn’t scare her and Riley leaned into the embrace. “Are you ready to go back to sleep?” Sara asked when she noticed Riley yawning.

“Can I sleep with you? I’m scared on my own,” Riley said, her voice sounded so small and tired, Sara agreed immediately and led the girl to hers and Ava’s bedroom. Riley climbed up onto the bed and rolled over next to Ava, Sara got in next to her and Riley snuggled into her side. 

“If you have another bad dream wake me or Ava up okay?” Sara said, Riley just hummed in agreement and the room went silent. The two of them fell asleep right after that, the day had been exhausting for Riley, it was scary being in a new place surrounded by new people.


	2. Two

The next morning Ava woke up to a small foot pressed against her back, she rolled onto her side and was met with a small girl sleeping peacefully next to her. Ava glanced over Riley where Sara was still asleep, which was unusual for the smaller woman because she was almost always awake before Ava was. She decided to stay in bed for a little longer and just enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning before the craziness that the day ahead was going to bring. 

Ava stayed in bed for around half an hour, when Sara and Riley were both still sleeping she decided to get up and start making breakfast. She was halfway through making the pancakes when she noticed Riley standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was in a messy and her pajama shirt was a little big for her because it was hanging off of her shoulder.

“Hi did you sleep okay last night sweetheart?” Ava questioned from her position at the stove, Riley shook her head and slowly walked over to her. She appeared at Ava’s side and just watched her make the pancakes. “Do you like pancakes?” Ava asked and Riley’s face scrunched up into a confused look as she tilted her head to the side a little. 

“I never had one,” Riley said after a few moments. Ava reached over and grabbed one of the already made pancakes off of the plate and cut a small piece of for Riley to try. 

“Do you like it?” Ava asked softly and Riley nodded her head, “we have some toppings you can put on,” Ava said and turned back to the stove to finish cooking the rest of them, Riley didn’t leave her side the whole time, she just watched her. 

Ava had almost used all of the pancake mix when Sara walked into the kitchen with wet hair. “Mmm something smells good,” Sara said as she moved to wrap her arms around Ava’s waist, she pressed a kiss to the side of her neck and glanced over her shoulder to get a good look at the pancakes. “Morning sweetie, you didn’t have another scary dream last night did you?” Sara asked and Riley shook her head, she still hadn’t moved from Ava’s side. 

“So that’s why I woke up to her foot on my back,” Ava thought out loud earning a chuckle from her girlfriend. 

Ava finished cooking the pancakes and placed them in the middle of the table with all of the different toppings, that she thought Riley would like, in small bowls for her to choose from. Riley grabbed a pancake from the stack and put it on her plate, she then grabbed the maple syrup and drowned the pancake in it, it was practically floating in the syrup by the time Riley decided that she had put enough on. Ava and Sara shared a look before looking at the small girl with matching smiles on their faces. 

After breakfast, they began to get ready for the day, Ava hopped in the shower while Sara helped Riley get changed into the clothes that Gideon had fabricated for her the day before. When they were all ready they headed over to the waverider, where most of the team were still sleeping apart from Ray, Nora, Zari and Nate who were all sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast. When they were at home Riley didn’t speak a lot but when they entered the kitchen to see the four of them sitting there Riley crawled back into her shell and hid behind Ava’s legs like she did the day before. 

“It’s okay sweetie, they’re here to help you nobody is going to hurt you I promise,” Ava said softly as she crouched down in front of Riley, the young girl nodded her head and followed Ava over to the table. She sat down on the empty seat between Sara and Ava, she quickly glanced at the people sitting around the table before looking down at her lap, not paying any attention to the conversation happening around her. 

“What are you going to do?” Nora asked looking at her best friend with concerned eyes. 

“We were going to take her down to the police station and report her uncle, and then they will probably get social services involved from there,” Ava said, but Nora knew that Ava didn’t want to just leave the girl with social services, just so that she could get put into the system. She glanced over at the smaller blonde who had the same sad expression on her face at the thought of Riley having to deal with social services at such a young age. 

“We should probably get going, we just stopped by to let you know to only call us if it’s an emergency,” Sara said and the others nodded their heads as the three of them left the room. Ava opened a portal in an alley across the road from the police station, she stepped through with Riley’s hand in hers and Sara on her other side. Ava could tell that Riley was scared because the closer they got to the station the slower she walked and her grip on Ava’s hand got tighter. 

They were about to walk through the doors to the station Riley came to a halt. “Riley? Are you okay?” Ava asked turning to look at the small girl, the fear on her face was clear. 

“I don’t want to go in there,” Riley said as she tried to wriggle her hand free from Ava’s, but the taller blonde woman didn’t let go of her hand because she knew the second she did Riley was going to run. 

“We won’t let anybody hurt you, sweetie,” Sara appeared by Riley’s side, she slowly reached up to tuck a stray strand of blonde hair from the girls face. She noticed tears filling up her ocean blue eyes, seconds later they were rolling down her cheeks. 

“No, I don’t like it there,” Riley said through her tears. Ava moved to try and lift her up into her arms, the moment she had Riley resting against her hip, she began to kick her legs around. “No!” She let out a high pitched squeal as more tears rolled down her flushed cheeks. 

The three of them moved out of the way of the door and sat down on a nearby bench in an attempt to calm Riley down. It worked a little, she stopped squealing but the tears continued to flow. 

“What’s wrong kiddo?” Sara asked as she ran her fingers through Riley’s soft blonde locks. Instead of answering Riley just shook her head before burying her face into the crook of Ava’s neck. After a while, she finally stopped crying but she seemed to have tired herself out because the sound of her crying was replaced by soft snoring sounds. 

The two women took that as an opportunity to head inside the police station. When they got inside, there were only a few officers dotted around the bullpen and none of them noticed their presence. “Is everything okay ladies?” the youngest looking officer of the three asked them as he made his way over to them. 

“We don’t really know what to do, but she followed us home last night and we have reason to believe that she is being abused at home,” Ava explained, and the cops face turned into something that looked very angry. 

“Okay, my name is officer Burley if you want to follow me over here and we can go over the details,” he walked towards his desk and motioned for Ava and Sara to take a seat. The two of them sat down in the empty chairs across from him, Riley was curled up in Ava’s lap still sleeping, and Sara sat down next to her and Ava could tell that her girlfriend was scared about what was going to happen to the young girl. “Let’s start at the beginning shall we.”

Ava recalled the whole situation from finding her hiding in the corner of the room, to how she told her about her uncle being abusive towards her. She changed a few details of the story, such as the fact that she said Riley followed them back to their apartment instead of the Waverider; because that wouldn’t go down well. The police officer wrote all of the relevant information down and asked a few questions here and there so that he could fully understand the situation.

“Did you manage to get her to tell you her name?” he questioned after he had finished taking notes of what Ava was saying. 

“She only told us her name was Riley, we didn’t manage to get a second name,” Ava said.

“That’s okay we can try and figure it out later, wait did you say both of her parents are deceased?” he asked and Ava nodded her head, the officer spun around on his chair to look at the officer on the desk behind him. “Hey Richardson, do you remember the case about the little girl who had to go and live with her uncle after her parents died in the car accident?” 

The other officer nodded his head, “yeah, we got called there a few months ago because the neighbor reported signs of abuse, what about it?” he said and Ava turned to look at her girlfriend, she could practically see the smoke coming from her ears she was that angry about what she had just heard. 

“Wait so you're saying that people have reported signs of abuse before and you have done nothing about it,” Sara snapped, there was a fire in her eyes and Ava could tell that she was scaring the officer in front of them. “This could have all been avoided and she could be living somewhere that she was treated right, but instead you chose to leave her in that dangerous environment, she could have ended up dead!”

“It’s not that easy ma’am, we have strict rules to follow when it comes to situations like that if we get too involved and there is no abuse actually happening then it could end very badly for us,” the officer said. 

“So you care more about your reputation than the safety of a little girl?” Sara questioned raising her voice slightly. 

“Ma’am, please calm down, there was nothing more we could do in the situation before, there was no evidence we couldn’t just charge him because one woman claimed that she heard something,” he said and Sara just rolled her eyes at the man, but kept her mouth shut this time, because arguing with a police officer wasn’t going to help keep Riley safe. 

“She confessed it to us surely that is enough?” Ava questioned and the man just held his hands up in front of him as if to say I don’t know. 

“I’m going to send a couple of officers down to bring him in for questioning and then we can get social services here, to see what our options are okay?” he suggested and the two women nodded their heads. He sent a couple of officers over to bring Riley’s uncle in and whilst they did that Officer Burley was trying to get a hold of someone in social services. 

They were waiting for around twenty minutes until he finally got through to someone, and by the time he did Riley had woken up. She glanced around at her surroundings with a panicked look on her face until she saw Sara sitting next to her. She looked up to see Ava staring straight ahead of her at nothing in particular, however, her attention quickly shifted to the small girl on her lap when she felt her moving to sit in a more comfortable position. 

“Hey sleepyhead,” Sara said softly when she saw the small girl looking in her direction. Riley didn’t respond instead she just snuggled further into Ava’s chest and tried to fight falling back to sleep. 

The officer was on the phone with the social services department for just over half an hour, and when he finally hung up the other two officers, who were supposed to be bringing her uncle in for questioning, arrived back at the station empty-handed. “Where is he?” Burley questioned. 

“We got there and he wasn’t answering the door and it wasn’t locked so we let ourselves in, he was dead when we got there, it looked like he had overdosed because there were a bunch of empty pill bottles around him,” one of the officers explained.  
The two of them headed back to their desks and just as they sat down the social worker walked through the door. She had long black hair and was wearing a black pencil skirt that ended just above her knees and a white button-up shirt, she had a hard expression on her face, it looked like she wanted to be doing anything but what she was about to do. 

“I’m Maria Reed, someone called about a child being abused?” she questioned as she made her way over to the three of them, officer Burley stood up and pulled up a chair for her next to Sara. 

“I did, but the situation has changed, her uncle has died,” Burley explained and the dark-haired woman let out a sigh. 

“Does she have any other family?” Maria questioned as she dug some papers from her handbag. 

“No, her parents died a couple of years ago her uncle was the only other person in her family.”

“Okay this is an easy case then, I can arrange for her to be put into a group home by this afternoon,” Maria began filling out some of the forms on her lap, Sara looked over at Ava with a frown on her face at what the woman had just said. Sara could see the sadness in her girlfriend's eyes because Riley was so young and deserved so much better than what she was going to get.

“A group home? Seriously is that the best you can do? She’s five-years-old, she’s practically still a baby and you want to put her into a home where nobody is going to pay attention to her?” Ava questioned, tightening her arms around Riley as if that was going to keep her safe.

Maria looked up from the papers on her lap and over at Ava with the same hard expression she had on her face when she first came into the station. “This is the best I can do unless by some miracle there is a family willing to take her in,” Maria said, Ava’s head snapped to look at Sara, and the smaller blonde could tell exactly what Ava was thinking. 

“What about us? What if we take her?” Sara questioned and the woman by her side just let out a sarcastic laugh. 

“It’s not that easy, you can’t just take her home with you, you would have to get a foster license first before even thinking about adopting her,” Maria rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the papers. 

“How do we get a foster license?” Ava questioned, she almost sounded desperate at this point because she didn’t want this sweet girl to suffer any more than she already had. It wasn’t like she and Sara hadn’t discussed the idea of having kids, they both did just in the future, which is why Ava was a little shocked when Sara suggested them taking her in; but at the same time it didn’t shock her at all because her girlfriend was such a caring person.  
“If you’re serious about this then I have some forms that you need to fill in, you will need to attend childcare classes and once that is complete we will send people over to your house to check that it is suitable for a child to live there,” Maria explained as she rummaged around in her folder for the forms, she finally found them and placed them in front of the two women, who wasted absolutely no time filling them out. 

Once that part was complete she helped them sign up for the childcare classes that were going to take them a couple of weeks to complete and then she scheduled the home visit for two weeks on Friday. They finished going through some finer details and once that was done the three women stood up from their seats, Ava put Riley down, but the small girl refused to let go of her hand. 

Ava and Sara said their goodbyes to the girl and explained that they would be coming back for her soon. But that didn't stop the tears flowing down her pink cheeks as they tried to get her to leave with the dark-haired woman. 

“No I wanna stay with you,” Riley choked out, the tears turned into sobs, and Ava crouched down in front of her and almost started crying with her because the young girl sounded so upset it was heartbreaking to hear. 

“Riley, it’s gonna be okay sweetie, we’re doing everything we can for you to come and live with us, it’s going to take a couple of weeks but that will go by so quickly and we can be together again, you have been so brave, sweetie, we just need you to be brave for a little longer. Can you do that for us?” Ava said and Riley nodded her head before she wrapped her arms tightly around Ava’s neck. 

“Come here kiddo, you’re so so strong you can do this, we will see you soon okay?” Sara said when Riley let go of Ava and wrapped her arms around her waist, she crouched down and gave her a proper hug before she had to leave with Maria. 

Later that night the two of them were cuddled up in bed, the room was in complete darkness but neither of them could sleep. 

“You aren’t mad, are you? I should have spoken to you about it before jumping into something that is going to change our lives forever, I know we have spoken about wanting to have kids together in the future but I panicked she was so scared and you’re so good with her, I just -” Sara’s rambling was cut off by two soft lips pressing against her own. 

“Of course I’m not mad, if I didn’t want this I would have let you know, you did the right thing, babe, god knows what would have happened if she had ended up somewhere else,” Ava paused, “besides I’m excited, we are going to be moms,” Ava said and Sara didn’t have to see her to know that she was smiling from ear to ear. 

“Oh god we’re gonna be moms, what if I’m not good enough, I’m going to mess the poor girl up why did I think this was a good idea she deserves someone better than me,” Sara said her voice wavering a little. Ava untangled herself from Sara and reached over to turn the lamp, on her bedside table, on.

“Come here,” Ava motioned for Sara to move closer to her, and she did she leaned into Ava’s side so her head was resting on her shoulder and her arm was resting on her toned stomach. “You have nothing to worry about, you are such a kind and caring person I mean look how well you did with our other kids, she is going to love you because we are going to give her all of the love we have to offer and I’m going to be right here every step of the way we are in this together.”

“God, what would I do without you?” Sara chuckled and pressed a kiss to the side of Ava’s neck. The taller woman leaned down and pressed a kiss to Sara’s forehead before mumbling ‘I love you’ into the top of her head. 

“I love you too,” Sara whispered as she snuggled impossibly closer to Ava’s side. Ava quickly turned the lamp off and the two of them cuddled together in their original position, which made it hard to see where one woman started and where the other one ended; shortly after that, they both drifted off to sleep.


	3. Three

Since leaving Riley with the social worker their lives had been hectic. They had attended every single childcare class that they could as well as trying to keep the timeline intact, but they still had to go shopping for things for Riley’s room. Which is how they found themselves arguing over which bed would be best for her in the middle of Ikea. 

“Aves look how cool this one is, you really think that she would prefer that one?” Sara crossed her arms over her chest and just stared at Ava, who was trying to convince the smaller woman to just get the normal bed; instead of the one with a slide coming off of it. 

“Sara we are not getting her that bed, end of,” Ava said as she wrote the number for the other bed down on the small sheet of paper. 

“But why?” Sara whined and stomped her foot slightly.

Ava rolled her eyes and moved to stand in front of her girlfriend. “If you want to act like a five-year-old, I’ll buy the bed for you and you can sleep on that tonight,” Ava turned on her heel and headed towards the section where the drawers and closets are, with Sara walking slowly behind her. 

“I get to choose her closet,” Sara said as she gently pushed past Ava and the taller blonde rolled her eyes at her girlfriend. The two of them looked at all of the different closets before Sara finally picked one out. 

“What about this one?” Sara questioned as she pointed to a plain white closet with a set of matching drawers. Ava was shocked that her girlfriend didn’t pick out the closet with the bright orange doors, because the whole time they had been in the store Sara kept picking out the most random and mismatching items. 

“Yeah that’s good,” Ava paused as she wrote the closet’s number down on the sheet of paper. “What else do we need to get?” Ava thought out loud, Sara just shrugged her shoulders before glancing over at the paper in Ava’s hands. 

“We should probably get her some toys and, ooh a bookcase kids like to read books right?” Sara questioned and Ava nodded her head with a small smile on her face. 

The two of them walked around the store trying to find a bookcase that would match the rest of the furniture they had already picked out. They finally found a white one that had small cartoon animals dotted all over it. After that they had finally finished and headed towards the end of the store to pick up their chosen items, it didn’t take long for them to find them and before they knew it they were back home and unpacking the furniture. 

“Babe it goes there,” Ava pointed to the small screw that Sara was trying to use to attach the leg to the bed. As usual, Sara immediately discarded the instructions and started putting it together in her own way. Luckily her method actually worked and the bed was fully put together and showed no sign of collapsing, even after they put the mattress on it. 

Sara moved to take the parts of the closet out of the box while Ava put the bedding and pillows on the bed and made it look more comfortable for Riley to sleep in. 

“Sara please use the instructions, we do not want a repeat of what happened last time,” Ava referred to their time in purgatory when Sara thought she had put the closet together but it ended up collapsing. Sara just smirked at her girlfriend before grabbing the instructions. 

Once the closet was finished it didn’t take them long to finish putting the rest of the items together. They decided to leave the walls white until Riley actually got there so that she could choose what her room looked like to make it feel more like her own space. They bought her a lion king bedding set because she had told them that, that’s her favorite movie, Sara had also bought her a large stuffed Simba; that was laid in the corner of Riley’s bed. 

Over the rest of the week, they slowly added more and more things to Riley’s room to make it complete. They bought a ton of clothes for her, they bought so many that some of them didn’t fit into the closet. They also bought her a bunch of books to read, as well as more stuffed animals and toys. 

The room was complete and the rest of the house had been child-proofed by the time that it came to their house inspection on Friday afternoon. Ava had taken the day off of work and Sara told the Legends not to call unless it was absolutely necessary. The two of them were sat on the couch in complete silence, too nervous to speak, because they had worked so hard to make it perfect for Riley to be able to live with them; and it would crush the two women if they failed the house inspection. 

“Are you sure you have no more knives laying around anywhere?” Ava broke the silence. The taller blonde didn’t actually realize how many knives Sara had dotted around the apartment until they had started to child-proof everything. 

“Yeah I’m sure the only knives that are in the apartment are the ones in the kitchen,” Sara said and before Ava could respond there was a loud knock on the front door. “You ready?” Sara asked as she took Ava’s hand in her own, Ava nodded her head and followed Sara to the door. 

“Hi, I’m Alejandro, from social services. I will be doing the house inspection today,” the dark-haired man said with a friendly smile on his face. 

“Hi, I’m Sara and this is my girlfriend Ava,” Sara said with a soft smile on her face. The two of them shook his hand before they got on with the inspection. They showed him to the kitchen first, then the living room, then upstairs. He didn’t speak that much, only when he needed to ask them a question. 

When they had looked around the whole apartment they resided on the couch as he finished filling out the forms on his clipboard. “Congratulations you passed, you can pick her up tomorrow morning after 9 am at this address, you will need to bring this form with you and any form of ID. Do you have any questions?” Alejandro handed the paper to Ava and the two women shook their heads.

“No I think we are all set, thank you,” Sara said with a smile on her face, and with that, he said his goodbyes and the two women were left alone again. “Oh my god this is real, were going to be responsible for an actual human being,” Sara said with a huge smile on her face, Ava had a matching smile on her face and she quickly cupped Sara’s face and brought her in for a soft kiss. 

“Do you wanna order a pizza?” Ava asked when they pulled away from each other. Sara was sitting on the couch with her head on Ava’s lap, as the taller woman carded her fingers through Sara’s soft blonde locks. She received a slight hum in response to her question, so she grabbed her phone and ordered two pizzas to be delivered. 

****

The rest of their night consisted of the two of them just cuddled up with one another as they watched a movie. It felt nice for them to finally have a break after the stress of the past few weeks.

Later that night Sara woke up at around 2.a.m. She rolled over to snuggle back into Ava’s side but she was met with an empty bed, and Ava’s side of the bed was cold meaning that she had been gone for a while. Sara waited for a few minutes before getting out of bed, in case she had only gone to the bathroom. Almost ten minutes had passed and the taller blonde still hadn’t returned, Sara hopped out of bed and slipped her feet into her pink fluffy slippers and headed downstairs to find her girlfriend. 

The second she stepped down from the bottom step she noticed Ava curled up in a ball at the end of the couch. Her head was resting on her knees and her arms were wrapped tightly around her legs, the room was almost dark apart from the small lamp in the corner of the room, it gave off a soft yellow glow that bounced off of Ava’s face. 

As Sara got closer to Ava she heard her ragged breathing and saw tears rolling down the woman’s cheeks. She rushed over to her side and gently pulled her into a hug, she quickly realized that Ava was having a panic attack. 

“Aves focus on me baby, follow my breathing,” Sara said, she gently pulled Ava’s hand from her leg and placed it on her chest so that she could feel Sara’s breathing pattern and follow it easier. 

Ava tried so hard to focus on what Sara was saying but she couldn’t quite understand her. It felt like her ears were full of water and the tears in her eyes made her vision blurry. Instead of focusing on what Sara was saying she focused on her hand pressing against Sara’s chest, she could feel the rise and fall of it as Sara took large breaths to try and help Ava follow them. After a few minutes of Ava following Sara’s breathing, she could hear and see properly again, her own breathing was back to normal but the tears continued to roll down her cheeks. 

Sara wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pulled her into her embrace. They stayed like that until Ava was ready to talk to her. “What’s wrong Aves?” Sara asked softly when the taller woman pulled away from her. 

Sara reaches out and wiped away the lone tear rolling down Ava’s cheek. When Ava didn’t respond to her question Sara looked at her girlfriend with her eyes full of concern, she lifted her hand and slowly ran her fingers through Ava’s hair to help her calm down enough to talk to her.

“Aves?”

“I- um, it’s nothing I’m fine, let’s go back to bed, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you,” Ava moved to stand up but Sara grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back onto the couch. 

“Ava you’re up at half-past two in the morning having a panic attack, alone. That’s hardly fine Aves, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on up here,” Sara gently tapped the side of Ava’s head, before moving her hands to hold onto Ava’s hands. 

“I just, it’s silly really.”

“Ava, your feelings are not silly, come on baby what’s wrong?” Sara ran a finger over Ava’s cheek before cupping it with her hand, Ava quickly turned her head and pressed a kiss to the palm of Sara’s hand. 

“I’m scared Sara, what if I’m not good enough for her? What if I mess up and she hates me? God knows she won’t be the first person in the world to hate me but it’s just, I’m just so scared,” Ava broke down into tears again when she finished speaking. Sara immediately wrapped her arms around the taller woman and pulled her into her chest, she gently scratched her nails up and down Ava’s back to help calm her down. They stayed like that for a while until Ava’s tears stopped, and the taller blonde moved away from her girlfriends embrace but still sat close enough to her so that Sara could wrap her arm around Ava’s shoulder. 

“Aves we are going to mess up there is no doubt about it, this is a completely new experience for both of us, but we are going to learn from our mistakes together, I’m going to be by your side the entire time we can do this together,” Sara paused and linked her fingers with Ava’s before she carried on speaking, “there is no way that she is going to hate you. She wouldn’t leave your side from the moment you first met her, I’m pretty sure she adores you, Aves, you helped her when nobody else would, you’re amazing baby I wish you could see that.”

Ava looked up at Sara with a shy smile on her face before pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “I love you,” Ava whispered before burying her face into the crook of Sara’s neck. The two of them sat back on the couch wrapped up with one another, just enjoying the calm of the early morning, and enjoying each others company; because they knew that this was going to be their last time of it just being the two of them. But, that thought didn’t scare Ava as much anymore because Sara reminded her that she wasn’t going to be doing this alone, they were going to do it as a team. 

“We should go back to bed, we have to be up early,” Ava said quietly and Sara just let out a hum of agreement without even opening her eyes. Ava stood up from the couch and held her hand out to help Sara up, the smaller blonde grabbed a hold of it and they made their way back upstairs to their bedroom, where they crawled back into bed before falling back to sleep in one another's arms. 

Ava woke up at 6.30 am the same morning, which was half an hour before her alarm was set to go off. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep but after laying there for ten minutes and not being able to, she decided to head downstairs to make a cup of coffee for herself and one for when Sara wakes up. Once she had made the coffees, she walked slowly back upstairs with a cup in each hand, she placed Sara’s on her bedside table for her before carefully climbing back under the covers; she sat with her back resting on the headboard as she sipped her coffee. 

The whole apartment was silent, the sun was shining brightly through the gaps in the blinds and Ava could hear the slight chirping of the birds outside of the bedroom window. Morning’s are Ava’s favorite time of day because it’s always so quiet and relaxing, that is if they aren’t on the Waverider because mornings on the waverider are anything but quiet and relaxing, it’s not that she disliked spending mornings on the Waverider because it’s quite the opposite, Ava loved spending the morning’s onboard because it felt like she was surrounded by a real family. They either talked about the weird dreams that they had the night before, yelled at each other for sitting too close, argued over who gets to use the food fabricator first or they just ate their breakfast and enjoyed the company of one another, either way, Ava loved it. 

Today was different though, it felt like this was going to be the last morning that she could just sit in bed and enjoy her morning coffee in silence, because according to the research that she has been doing most five-year-olds like to wake up at the crack of dawn and the second they wake all they want to do is play. Ava was excited for that, she couldn’t wait to be able to make pancakes for the three of them, she couldn’t wait for the mornings where it’s just the three of them snuggled up in bed watching a movie whilst it rained outside, she also couldn’t wait for the mornings where they were all rushing around the house trying to get ready before taking Riley to school. 

The second she thought about them taking Riley to school made her panic because she was at the age when kids started going to school and they hadn’t even thought to check whether there were any good school’s around where they live. Was it too late to even get her enrolled in a school now? Ava thought’s started to spiral, but before she could panic anymore she felt Sara roll onto her side and gently throw her arm over Ava’s thighs. 

“I can hear you thinking from here,” Sara mumbled. 

Ava jumped a little at her girlfriend's voice because she thought that she was still sleeping, she looked down at her with a small smile on her face. Sara was looking up at her with bright blue eyes, her hair was a mess spread out on the pillow behind her and she had a tired smile on her lips. 

“I made you coffee, it might be cold now though,” Ava said softly, Sara quickly sat up and grabbed the cup of coffee from the bedside table, before scooting back to sit by Ava’s side as they drank their coffee. 

“What were you thinking about just then, you looked worried?” Sara broke the silence in the room. 

“I was just thinking about what we are going to do when it comes to September, Riley should be starting school then and we haven’t even looked at any schools, I don’t even know if there are any around here; and if there is what if we left it too late to enroll her and she can’t go?” Ava questioned, she took a sip of her coffee and stared down at the bottom of the cup when she realized that she had finished it. 

“Baby don’t worry we can figure all of that stuff out, let’s just enjoy our last couple of hours of peace, we can ask about it when we pick her up okay?” Sara said, she placed her empty cup back onto her bedside table along with Ava’s, before she leaned into the taller woman's side and rested her head on her chest. They stayed like that for around half an hour before they had to start getting ready so that they could be on time to pick Riley up.

It didn’t take long for them to get ready and before they knew it they were parked outside of the group home ready to go inside. 

“You’re sure we have all of the papers right?” Ava questioned and Sara nodded her head, Ava quickly took them from Sara’s hands to check over them for what felt like the hundredth time that morning.

“Aves come on, we have everything you have checked it like a million times, let's go,” Sara groaned, and with that Ava finally stopped looking over the papers, they got out of the car and walked up the small set of steps that led to the front door, Ava knocked on the door and not even fifteen seconds later the door was flung open to reveal a tired-looking teenage boy. 

“You here for Riley?” the boy questioned, the two women nodded their heads and he stepped to the side to let them walk through the doorway and into the house. “Just go down the hallway and the door on the left at the end she’s in there, Lou is helping her get her things together.”

“Thank you,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face. The boy didn’t say anything else, instead, he gave the two women a tight-lipped smile and nodded his head slightly at them before closing the front door and wandering off into another room. 

Sara and Ava followed his instructions and they reached the door, it was slightly ajar and they could hear a woman talking on the other side. Ava knocked softly on the door and they walked through when they heard the woman say ‘come in.’

The room was pretty small and had a set of bunk-beds in the corner of the room and a set of dark wooden drawers on the opposite wall. There was a small kid hanging over the edge of the top bunk staring down at the two of them, she looked like she had way too much energy for this early on in the day and the suspicion was confirmed when she basically jumped from the top bunk and landed on her feet next to the woman who they assumed to be ‘Lou’. 

“Kasey, stop doing that you are going to hurt yourself,” the woman said with a sigh, the small girl mumbled an apology before running over to Sara and Ava.

“Are you taking Riley?” the girl asked and a smile formed on her face when the two women nodded their heads. “She doesn’t talk a whole lot, she’s pretty boring,” the girl said with a grin on her face that showed of her missing two front teeth. 

“Kasey I swear to God, leave them alone,” Lou said as she stood up and moved away from the backpack that she was packing, “you must be Sara and Ava?” she questioned, holding her hands out for the women to shake. 

“Riley is just in the bathroom, we can go to my office and sort through the paperwork,” Lou said and led them out of the room. 

It didn’t take long for them to sort through the papers because the majority of them had already been filled out and all they needed was a signature from Lou. Once that was done they headed back to the room where Riley had been staying and helped gather all of her belongings, although there weren’t many things she only had a few clothes that all fit into one backpack and a few other things. 

“Are you ready kiddo?” Sara asked Riley, but the small girl just tilted her head a little in confusion. “You’re coming to live with me and Ava like we promised remember?” as soon as those words came out of Sara’s mouth they saw the girl's eyes light up, which was something that they had never seen before. Her eyes always had a hint of fear in them, but now she looked genuinely happy. 

“Do you want to say goodbye to everyone?” Lou asked the small girl.

“Jake,” Riley replied and Lou seemed to understand what she meant because she moved out into the hallway and called out for this Jake person. He appeared in the doorway moments later, and it was the boy who greeted them at the front door when they first arrived. 

“Are you leaving? I’m gonna miss you kid,” Jake said holding his hand up in front of Riley for her to give him a high five, she reached up and lightly tapped the palm of her hand against his. 

While Riley and Jake were saying their goodbyes, Lou turned to Sara and Ava and started to talk about Riley to them, “don’t be worried if she doesn’t speak a whole lot when you first get home, that is the first time she has spoken since she first got here. It’s normal though, she’s so young and has already been through so much, you just have to be patient with her,” Lou said with a soft smile on her face. 

Riley came over to Ava’s side and grabbed onto her hand and tugged on it gently as if she was trying to let her know that she wanted to leave. They said their goodbyes to Lou and Jake ruffled Riley’s hair one last time before the three of them left the house. 

They got back in the car and Ava struggled with Riley’s car seat as Sara was loading the small girl’s belongings into the trunk. “Babe do you know how to work this stupid thing?” Ava asked when she heard Sara close the trunk, the smaller woman was by her side seconds later and Ava moved out of the way to let Sara get closer to try and figure it out. It took a minute or so but they finally had it figured out and were all finally in the car. 

“Are you ready to go to your new home kiddo?” Sara asked, and Ava didn’t even have to look at her girlfriend to know that she was excited she could tell just through the tone of her voice, the two of them glanced back at Riley who gave them a nod. 

“Let’s go home then.”


	4. Four

The moment the three of them stepped through the front door a weight seemed to have lifted off of their shoulders. They finally had Riley back with them, she was safe and they were going to do everything in their power to make sure that it stayed that way because even though they had only met Riley the day before she had been put into the group home, they had spent every single day worrying about her. The worry about her being safe was gone, but a different kind of worry took its place, both Sara and Ava were worried about the impact that they would have on this little girl's life, they were terrified of messing up. However, for the time being, they pushed their insecurities aside and focused on making sure that Riley was as comfortable as possible in the apartment.

“Do you wanna go and see you room kiddo?” Sara asked excitedly and Riley nodded her head slowly but there was a hint of excitement in her eyes. 

The three of them headed upstairs to show Riley her new bedroom, Sara opened the door and let Riley go in first so that she could see her new bedroom. The second she walked into the room she let out an excited squeal and ran towards the bed and immediately grabbed the large stuffed Simba. She stayed curled up in the corner of the bed with Simba in her arms, while Ava unpacked her bag for her and put the clothes in the closet with the others that they had bought for her. 

When Ava had finished unpacking the bag for Riley, the small girl jumped off of the bed with Simba tucked under her right arm as she looked around the rest of the room. She stood in front of the bookcase in the corner of the room and gently ran her fingers over the edge of the books before grabbing one from the shelf and walking over to Sara, who was sitting on the armchair at the other side of the room and holding it up in front of her. 

“Do you wanna read it?” Sara asked softly and Riley just nodded her head. Sara took the book from Riley and the small girl climbed up onto the armchair with the Captain, she sat Simba down on Sara’s lap and positioned his head so that it looked as if he was reading the book too. 

Sara started to read the book, she put on silly voices for each of the characters causing Riley to laugh each time she did it. Ava stood next to the dresser and watched the two of them interacting, it brought a soft smile onto her face and made her wonder why Sara was insecure about doing this because she was a natural with the small girl. 

The book was short so they finished reading it pretty quickly and Riley climbed down from the armchair and put the book back in its place, before wandering over to Ava. “Is this all mine?” Riley asked in a voice so soft that Ava was sure she would have missed if the room wasn't so quiet. The taller blonde crouched down in front of Riley so that she could see the girl properly.

“This is all yours sweetheart, everything in this room and the whole apartment, this is your home now,” Ava said with a smile on her face and her response seemed to make Riley happy because she was practically smiling from ear to ear.   
They let Riley explore her new room and home a little more, she was looking through the toybox in the corner of the room when her stomach started to make some odd noises. “It sounds like someone is hungry,” Sara chuckled from her spot in the armchair. Riley looked over at her and let out a giggle when her stomach made another noise. “Aves?” Sara called out to her girlfriend who had left the room a little while ago to answer a call from the Bureau. 

“Yeah?” Ava asked as she walked back into the room.

“Do you wanna go and grab lunch?” Sara asked. 

“Yeah sure, I just need to email some things to Gary, I won’t be long,” Ava explained as she left the room again. 

“Where do you wanna go for lunch?” Sara asked Riley, who was now sitting next to her in the armchair again. She just shrugged her shoulders, “do you like sandwiches?” Sara questioned and Riley nodded her head. 

Once Ava had emailed Gary they were finally able to leave, they drove into the city and to the coffee shop that Sara and Ava usually go to. It was quite busy but luckily there was an empty table in front of one of the windows. Sara and Riley went and sat at it while Ava ordered their food and drinks before going to join the two of them at the table. 

Their order arrived at the table shortly after and Riley began to take small bites out of her sandwich, she had only just finished eating the first half by the time Sara and Ava had finished eating theirs. 

Riley finally finished eating, she had left the crusts of the sandwich scattered about on her plate. They stayed in the coffee house for around half an hour before leaving and heading to the mall, where they bought a few pairs of shoes for Riley. 

“Can I wear my new shoes?” Riley asked, looking up at Ava with hopeful eyes. They were sitting on a bench waiting for Sara to finish looking in some store.

“Sure, do you wanna wear the red converse?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head. She grabbed the shoes from one of the bags and helped Riley take the old, worn-out sneakers off and put on the brand new converse. 

Shortly after Ava had finished tying the laces on Riley’s shoes, Sara emerged from the store she was just in with two new bags on her arm. Ava raised an eyebrow at her as she glanced at the bags that her girlfriend was holding but before Ava could even look into the bags Sara quickly pulled them away from her. 

“It’s your birthday gift, you’ll ruin the surprise,” Sara said with a slight smirk on her face. Ava was slightly shocked that Sara was so organized because the Captain waited until the night before Ava’s birthday to go out and buy her a gift. 

“My birthday isn’t for another two months,” Ava stated. 

“I know, I just saw these things and it made me think of you so I bought them,” Sara said with the same smirk still on her face. 

Their attention was quickly drawn away from whatever Sara had bought and it was now on the small girl sitting beside Ava on the bench. “Sara look at my shoes,” Riley exclaimed as she wriggled her legs around slightly, to make sure that Sara got a good look at the brand new shoes on Riley’s feet. 

“Wow, you look so cool kiddo,” Sara said enthusiastically which only made Riley even more excited about her new shoes. “Come on let's go in this store,” Sara pointed to the toy store across from where they were sitting. Riley quickly jumped off of the bench grabbing Ava’s hand in the process and practically dragged the taller blonde into the toy store with her, Sara laughed as she grabbed their bags and quickly followed them into the store. 

After they finished in the toy store they went to a few more stores before they finally headed back home. The rest of the night was fairly chilled out, they cooked dinner together and Sara ended up spilling the pasta all over the floor, resulting in Ava banning her from the kitchen until dinner was ready; Riley stayed by Ava’s side the whole time and burst into a fit of giggles when she kicked Sara out of the kitchen. 

They ate their dinner in a comfortable silence, but Sara kept doing little things that annoy Ava to make the small girl beside her laugh, and Ava found it difficult to get mad at her girlfriend for doing that when watching Sara and Riley interact with one another was so adorable to watch. After dinner, Sara washed up while Ava was sitting on the couch with Riley watching whatever show was on Disney Channel. However, when Sara finally joined them they noticed that the small girl was struggling to keep her eyes open. 

“Do you want to go to bed sweetie?” Ava asked softly and Riley shook her head as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. “Come on sweetheart you’re sleepy, the couch is uncomfortable to sleep on,” Ava said but Riley just shook her head again. 

“How about we go up to your room and read a story?” Sara suggested and Riley agreed immediately. Ava glanced over Riley’s head at her girlfriend and looked at her as if to say ‘how did you do that’. Sara just shrugged her shoulders with a smug smile on her lips. 

“Can you walk or do you want me to carry you?” Ava asked when she noticed that Riley’s eyes had closed and she was now leaning into Ava’s side. 

“Up,” Riley mumbled and Ava carefully picked her up and settled her on her hip before following Sara upstairs and into Riley’s bedroom. They quickly changed her into some clean pajamas that were covered in little cartoon ducks. 

By the time they had changed her into her pajamas and tucked her into bed, they thought she had already fallen asleep and they moved to turn the lamp off, “story,” Riley mumbled and the two women turned on their heels and Sara grabbed a random book from the shelf and Ava sat on the end of the bed, leaving room for Sara to sit next to her so that she could read the book to Riley. 

Sara read the book, putting on many different voices for each of the characters and Ava couldn’t help but just stare at the woman in awe. She loved seeing this side of Sara, so soft and carefree, it was a side of her that not many people got to see and she felt so lucky to be able to be around her like this. When Sara finished reading the book she dropped it onto her lap and looked at Ava who was still staring at her, “what?”

“Nothing, I just, I love you so much,” Ava said as a slight blush worked its way into her cheeks. 

“I love you too baby,” Sara said before pressing a soft kiss to her lips. They moved off of the bed careful not to wake Riley up, Sara put the book back onto the shelf and followed Ava out of the room and into their bedroom across the hallway. 

They both went about their nighttime routines, with Ava in the bathroom brushing her teeth and Sara standing next to her as she washed her face. Once they were both finished in the bathroom they changed into their pajamas and crawled into bed, Ava was half laid down half-sitting up against the headboard and Sara was curled up in her side with her head resting on Ava’s chest, her arm slung over her waist and her legs were tangled up with Ava’s. 

“We made it through our first day with her,” Sara said and Ava didn’t even need to look at her to know that there was a proud smile on her face. 

“We did, it was easier than I expected,” Ava said softly and Sara hummed in agreement. 

“I just wish my dad and Laurel were here to meet her, they would have loved her,” Sara said and Ava wrapped her arms tighter around Sara and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. 

“I know babe,” Ava mumbled into Sara’s hair before she laid down properly so that she could see Sara’s face. “They would be so proud of you, you know, look at you who would have guessed that we would be here, we’re in a good place and we’re fostering a kid,” Ava said and that brought a smile onto her girlfriends face. 

“You make me so happy, I love you so much baby,” Sara said as she peppered Ava’s face with kisses, she snuggled back into Ava’s side after reaching over and turning the lamp off. The room was engulfed in darkness and the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of the two women’s breathing until Sara spoke again. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”

“It’s so late, aren’t you tired?” Ava groaned, her voice was thick with tiredness and it made Sara chuckle because not even five minutes ago she was wide awake. 

“Aves it’s only just 9 o’clock.”

“I’m sleepy, I only had 2 hours sleep last night,” Ava’s words were beginning to slur and that was a telltale sign that Ava was exhausted. Sara just kissed Ava’s cheek before closing her own eyes, she heard Ava mumble ‘love you,’ but it sounded more like, ‘luff you.” Sara responded with a ‘love you too baby,’ before sleep consumed her body. 

***

They spent the next few weeks as just the three of them, they went to the park, to the movies to see the new Lion King movie and Riley didn’t shut up about it for the rest of the day. As the days went on Riley seemed to get more and more comfortable around them, she still wasn’t comfortable with them reaching their arms out towards her unexpectedly so they were careful to avoid hugging her and picking her up without her permission to do so. 

They also learned so much more about her, like her favorite food is spaghetti and she can’t sleep without a light on and they have to check the closet and under the bed each night before she can fall asleep. They discovered that even though she can’t read yet, she loves books, every chance she gets she asks Sara or Ava to read one to her. They also learned that she is obsessed with Lions, and they keep finding Riley with their phones asking Siri to tell her facts about Lions. 

After around three weeks of Riley living with them, they decided that it would be a good time for the Legends, Gary, and Nora to come and meet the girl properly; because the last time they had met her she was extremely overwhelmed and scared of everyone. They had arranged for everyone to come over for dinner, which Ava regretted suggesting when it came to the time for her to actually start cooking everything. 

“Aves why don’t we just get takeout?” Sara asked from her seat at the kitchen table. She was sitting with Riley watching the small girl draw in a coloring book they bought from the mall the other day. 

“No, I said I would cook, so that’s what I’m going to do. I just can’t do it right,” Ava slammed the tray, with the burnt chicken, onto the top of the stove causing Riley to jump a little at the sound. “Sorry sweetheart,” Ava said softly when she realized that she scared Riley with the loud bang. 

Sara jumped up from her seat and moved to Ava’s side, she linked their hands together and she ran her thumb over the back of Ava’s hands to try and calm the Director down. She could tell that her girlfriend was stressed, and Ava was projecting it onto the food but Sara knew that wasn’t the actual reason that she was stressed. 

“Aves they aren’t going to care whether you cook or not, they’re our family. I’m pretty sure they would eat anything we put in front of them, come on let’s just order takeout,” Sara said and Ava finally gave in and agreed to order takeout. She quickly cleaned up the kitchen and joined Sara and Riley at the table, the young girl was still coloring in the book while Sara was scrolling through Facebook on her phone. 

“Ava look!” Riley said excitedly as she turned the book so that Ava could see the drawing properly. 

“That is amazing sweetie!” Ava smiled at the girl and it only made her more excited about her drawing. But that also made Ava think about the fact that Riley had never really had anyone to share her excitement with her because her uncle didn’t care about her, he was more focused on his alcohol. Her parents died when she was so young and she probably wouldn’t even remember them in a few years, Ava wondered if she remembered them now; but that was a conversation for another day. 

Riley soon got bored of drawing and instead, she dragged Ava upstairs with her to read with her. The two of them sat in the armchair in the corner, Riley was half sat on Ava’s lap and half squashed against the arm. Ava opened the book to start reading the book to the small girl when she heard a knock on the front door, the knock was quickly followed by Sara’s voice and then the house was filled with the various voices of the Legends. 

“Riley, there are some people that Sara and I want you to meet, they are our family but you don’t have to go downstairs if you don’t want to,” Ava said and Riley looked up at her with nervous eyes. “Can you remember the people who were there the day we first met you?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head. “That’s them, they’re nice people, nobody downstairs is ever going to hurt you I promise, do you want to meet them?” 

“Yes,” Riley said but there was still a hint of nervousness in her voice. 

“If you feel uncomfortable at any point tell me or Sara and we can come up here and read, okay?” Ava said and Riley nodded her head before climbing down from the armchair. She grabbed onto Ava’s hand and the taller woman stood up and led them downstairs where the Legends were all sitting in the living room. When they all started to greet Ava and Riley, the small girl hid behind Ava’s legs and gripped onto her hand tightly. “It’s okay sweetie,” Ava crouched down in front of the small blonde girl. 

Ava scooped Riley up into her arms and sat down on the couch in between the arm and Sara, and settled with Riley sitting on her lap. They went around the room and introduced themselves to Riley, she offered each of them a shy smile before snuggling into Ava’s chest. 

They ordered takeout shortly after that and it arrived pretty quickly. They talked and ate, while Riley still refused to move away from Ava. However, as the night went on Riley became more comfortable around the Legends, but it was clear that she was uncomfortable around the men on the team. Apart from Constantine, she took a particular liking to him, which Ava wasn’t too pleased about but she was just happy to see the girl becoming more comfortable around them. 

Towards the end of the night, Riley finally moved from Ava’s lap and sat next to Constantine. 

“Why do you talk like that?” Riley questioned after John finished telling Sara about some new bar he went to last week. 

“What like this?” John questioned, emphasizing his accent, which caused Riley to burst out into a fit of giggles. 

“Why can’t I talk like that?” Riley questioned. 

“Because you’re American and John is English,” Sara explained but Riley just looked confused. 

“Oh,” Riley said softly before letting out a yawn. Ava glanced over at the small girl who was slightly leaning into John’s side as she struggled to stay awake. The blonde man looked extremely uncomfortable and it was clear that he didn’t know whether to sit still or move his arm around her to make her more comfortable. Luckily Ava spoke up before Riley could lean fully into John’s side. 

“Do you want to go to bed sweetheart?” Ava asked and Riley just shook her head, she sat up straight and tried to make herself look not tired. it didn’t work though, she just ended up fighting to keep her eyes open again. “Do you want Sara to take you up instead?” Ava suggested and Riley just shook her head. 

“I’m not tired, I want to stay with John,” Riley mumbled, she was still fighting sleep but this time she allowed herself to lean against John’s side. 

“Okay come on, let’s get you to bed,” Sara said softly as she carefully scooped her up into her arms and John looked so relieved that the kid wasn’t using him as a pillow anymore. Riley immediately settled into Sara’s arms, she had her face buried in the crook of Sara’s neck with her arms wrapped loosely around the back of her neck. 

Ava followed the two of them upstairs after explaining that Riley liked it when they were both there to tuck her into bed. When Ava walked into the room Sara had already changed Riley into some fresh pajamas and was about to tuck her into bed. 

“Goodnight Ry Ry,” Sara whispered before pressing a kiss to the top of Riley’s head. Ava smiled at the nickname that Sara had given the girl, they started using it around a week ago when she asked why Sara sometimes called Ava ‘Aves’ when they explained what a nickname was the small girl wanted one, and when Sara decided on ‘Ry Ry’ she got extremely excited over it. 

Ava pressed a kiss on Riley’s forehead and pulled the covers over her further so that all you could see was her head. “Goodnight sweetie.” 

The two of them left the room, but they left the door open in case Riley needed anything and headed back downstairs to the Legends. 

“She’s a sweet kid,” Ray said when they both appeared back in the living room. The two of them smiled at him and the original conversations carried on, Ava sat down next to Nora on the couch and Sara sat on the opposite couch with Zari and Nate. 

“So how does it feel to have a kid? You’re basically a mom now,” Nora said with a smile on her face. 

“It still doesn’t feel real,” Ava said. 

“You’re both so good with her, it’s a little weird to see this super-soft side of Sara though,” Nora chuckled. 

“Don’t let her hear you calling her soft,” Ava said and Nora laughed even more. 

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and everything felt normal, Ava and Nora got a little drunk from the wine they had been drinking, which resulted in Ray having to take her back to the Waverider. Once everyone had left Sara helped Ava upstairs and into their bedroom, where she was able to change her into her pajamas much to Ava’s protests. But, the second Ava’s head hit the pillow she was out like a light. 

The next morning she woke up to the bright sunlight streaming in through the gaps in the curtains, she let out a groan and threw her arm over her eyes. She stayed like that until she heard giggles coming from next to her, she lifted her arm and glanced over at Sara’s side of the bed to see Sara and Riley both sitting up on the bed leaning back against the headboard as they watched some video on her phone. 

“Morning,” Ava mumbled as she turned onto her side. 

“Aves it’s two in the afternoon,” Sara said with a smirk on her face and Ava just groaned again and moved so that she was sitting up against the headboard. 

“You were super sleepy,” Riley said when the video on Sara’s phone had stopped, “we were going to wake you up for breakfast but Sara said that you’re sick, are you sick? Do you need water?” Riley asked, putting on an English accent when she said the word ‘water.’

Ava looked at Sara with a confused expression on her face when Riley said water. “Z left her phone here last night so we went to the Waverider and dropped it off for her, but Riley wandered off and found John and pestered him to teach her how to speak like him,” Sara explained.

“Do you know Giddy?” Riley questioned as she looked up at Ava.

“Yeah, did you meet her today?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head excitedly.

“She has a funny accent too, she sounds fancy though not like John,” Riley said causing the two women to laugh at her. She continued to ramble on about wanting an accent like Gideon, Charlie and John and the two women listened intently. 

They stayed in bed for the rest of the day, Sara only got up at dinner time to go and answer the door to the pizza delivery boy. Sara also made them have a Disney movie marathon because they discovered that the only Disney movie that Riley had watched was the Lion King, and there were so many that Ava hadn’t had chance to watch with her yet. They grabbed a bunch of pillows and blankets and snuggled up with one another, and began the movie marathon.


	5. Five

“Can’t you take another week off?” Sara whined as she watched her girlfriend climb out of bed and head towards their en-suite bathroom to get ready for work. It was her first day back since Riley came to live with them almost 5 weeks ago. 

The sun was only just beginning to rise and Sara tried to snuggle back into bed but she couldn’t without Ava by her side. She had gotten used to being with Ava for almost every waking second of the day over the past weeks, and now she didn’t really know what to do with herself. Especially because it was also Riley’s first day of kindergarten. 

When Sara finally realized that there was no way Ava was going to get back into bed with her, she threw the covers back with a sigh and got out of bed before joining Ava in the bathroom. The taller blonde was busy doing her makeup until Sara wrapped her arms around her waist making her stop what she was doing. 

“Sara, I have to get ready,” Ava said sternly but Sara didn’t move her arms from Ava’s waist. Instead, she just tightened her grip and peppered her shoulder with kisses. She finally moved away from Ava when the taller blonde needed to grab something from their bedroom. 

They carried on getting ready for the day until Riley walked into their bedroom clutching her stuffed Simba by the ear. Her blonde hair was a mess on top of her head and her pajama shirt was slightly hanging off of her shoulder. When she realized that neither Sara or Ava was in the bedroom she climbed onto the bed and curled up in the middle of it, hugging Simba to her chest. 

“Morning princess, I was just coming to see if you were awake,” Ava said when she exited the bathroom and noticed Riley curled up on the bed. However, when she got closer she noticed that something was not right with the girl. “What’s wrong Riles?” Ava questioned softly as she sat down on the bed next to the small girl. 

Riley didn’t move, she only shook her head in response to Ava’s question. Which let the taller blonde know that she didn’t want to speak about it. 

“Come on sweetie use your words,” Ava tried to get Riley to tell her what was wrong. Over the past few weeks they had been trying to get the young girl to talk to them more about how she feels and to let them know when she’s hurt, because she tends to keep it to herself; they know that that is the result of the way her uncle treated her, but they needed her to know that she didn’t need to keep things to herself anymore. 

Luckily she didn’t try to fight it and she just sat up and immediately climbed onto Ava’s lap and cuddled into her. The taller blonde wrapped her arms around the small girl and just held her, she rubbed small circles on her back when she noticed the soft cries coming from Riley. At that sound, Sara emerged from the bathroom and joined them on the bed. 

“What’s wrong Ry?” Sara asked the concern was clear in her eyes as she looked at the girl in Ava’s lap. She looked so small and vulnerable and it broke the Captains heart. 

Once Riley finished crying she lifted her head up from Ava’s chest and looked at the two women in front of her. “What’s wrong baby?” Sara asked, she reached out and tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. 

“I don’t want to go to school,” Riley mumbled with a sad pout on her face. 

“I know it’s scary sweetie, but you’re going to have so much fun, you’re going to make so many new friends and you can play with them and read and draw. You’re going to love it,” Ava said in hopes that it would help make Riley less scared and it kind of worked because she got excited about being able to read all day. 

“But what if they don’t like me? I don’t want them to be mean,” Riley said and she looked as though she was about to breakdown into tears again at the thought of the other kids not liking her, but she managed to hold them back. 

“They are going to love you, you know why?” Sara paused when Riley shook her head at the question. “Because you are an amazing kid, you are so kind and caring and you’re so much fun, and if they are mean you have to tell your teacher okay? Promise us you will tell your teacher and us if they’re mean to you,” Sara said and that seemed to help calm her nerves a little. 

“Okay, how about we have a special breakfast to celebrate your big first day of school?” Ava suggested and Riley’s eyes lit up at the thought of food. 

“Can we have pancakes with maple syrup!” She asked excitedly and the second Ava nodded her head in agreement the small girl jumped off of her lap and she ran downstairs to the kitchen. 

“Well that went well, we did good right?” 

“Yeah, we did good,” Ava agreed as they bumped their fists together, Sara pulled hers away making an explosion noise with her mouth before going back into the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day. 

Ava let out a small chuckle at her girlfriend before heading downstairs to start making breakfast for the three of them. By the time she got to the kitchen, Riley had already taken it upon herself to get the ingredients out ready for Ava to start making the batter. She was just about to pull the pan out of the cupboard when it was too heavy for her and it fell to the ground, making a loud banging sound. 

“I’m sorry,” Riley said as she looked up at Ava with big round eyes. 

“It’s okay sweetie, come on let’s make these pancakes,” Ava grabbed the pan from the floor and moved over to grab the ingredients that Riley had already collected for her. The two of them made the mix and they were ready within no time, just as they were about to begin eating Sara joined them at the table. 

It didn't take long for them to finish eating and once they were done Ava cleaned up the kitchen while Sara helped Riley get dressed and ready for her first day of school. 

Riley reappeared in the kitchen with her hair in two neat french braids. She was wearing some dark blue denim pinafore with a plain red t-shirt underneath it with her favorite red converse. Sara walked behind her holding her Captain Marvel backpack as she made sure that she had all of the things she needed in it. 

“Wow look at you! Come on let’s get a picture of you,” Ava said excitedly which only made Riley even more excited about her first day, despite her being terrified of it earlier that morning. Ava quickly pulled out her phone and took a few pictures of the girl who had a huge toothy grin plastered on her face. “Okay now one with the backpack on,” Ava said and Riley slipped it onto her back and turned to look at the camera with the same toothy grin on her face. 

They got a few more pictures of her before they had to leave the house. The drive to the school only took around twenty minutes and when they arrived the place was filled with nervous kids and their parents. There were some kids throwing tantrums not wanting to go into class and there were some kids that were so excited they just ran into class without saying goodbye to their parents. They grabbed Riley’s things and headed towards the classroom.

Riley grabbed onto Ava’s hand and the taller blonde could tell that she was scared because whenever she was nervous or scared she held Ava’s hand tightly and walked extremely close to her; which is what she was doing. Sara was walking on the other side of Riley and was once again holding the small girl's backpack for her. 

When they finally made it to Riley’s classroom it was full of kids and their parents. The teacher greeted them and showed them where to leave Riley’s things. Which was in a small locker with her name written on it and a small duck cartoon underneath it. 

“Remember what we said to do if someone is being mean to you okay?” Ava said and Riley nodded her head, she still refused to let go of Ava’s hand even though the two women were crouched down in front of her. 

“You’re going to have such a fun day! We will be back to pick you up later baby,” Sara said. 

“Please don’t go,” Riley said and it was clear in her voice that she was about to cry, she launched herself into Ava’s arms and squeezed her tightly. 

“You'll be okay,” Ava whispered into her hair. “Come on, why don’t you go and sit with the girl over there, she looks like she could use a friend,” Ava pointed to the small girl with dark hair sitting on a table by herself. She looked awfully upset because her parents had left her already. 

“Okay,” Riley mumbled. 

“We’ll see you soon okay,” Sara said as she pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Try and have fun today baby.”

Riley moved further into Ava’s embrace and gripped onto her dark blue blazer like her life depended on it. Ava squeezed her a little tighter in return and the small girl finally let her tears fall. “Come on Riles cheer up, I know this is scary, it's a big step but you are going to be okay, we will be here to pick you up later okay?” Ava said when Riley stopped crying. The small girl pulled away from her embrace and wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, before moving to give Sara a hug. 

“We can go for ice cream when we pick you up,” Sar whispered before Riley’s teacher came over to her. 

“Hey sweetheart, do you want to go and pick a seat? We are going to be doing some arts and crafts this morning,” The woman looked no older than 25 and she had her black hair that went down to her shoulders. 

Riley’s eyes lit up at the sound of doing arts and crafts, she quickly said her goodbyes to Sara and Ava before following the teacher over to the girl who was still sitting alone at one of the tables. 

The two women made it back to the car and just sat in silence for a few moments before Sara spoke up. “That was hard, I didn’t expect her to get so upset,” Sara said. 

“I know, I hope she’s okay, she’ll be okay, right? I kept telling her that she would be but-”

“She’s going to be fine Aves, I have a feeling that she is going to absolutely love it,” Sara reassured her girlfriend. 

“Okay we need to go, I’m half an hour late,” Ava said before driving to the bureau. 

When they arrived there were only a few agents there including Gary, “I thought you said you were late?” Sara questioned with a confused look on her face because there were only around five agents already at work.

“I am, I like to be here an hour or so before everyone else, it sets a good example,” Ava said as they headed towards her office, passing Gary’s desk on the way. He was sitting at his desk excited to see his boss back at work. The two of them greeted Gary before going into Ava’s office, which was exactly how she left it the day before they were able to pick Riley up from the group home. There were files in a neat stack in the corner of her desk alongside the to-do list she had written out for herself. 

“I should probably go and make sure that the Legends haven’t blown the ship up yet,” Sara said, she pulled Ava closer to her by her blazer. “I’m gonna miss you,” Sara leaned up to press a soft kiss to Ava’s lips, she let go of the blazer and wrapped her arms around Ava’s neck and deepened the kiss. 

“I’m gonna miss you too, don’t forget you need to be back here for three so we can go and pick Riley up,” Ava reminded the smaller blonde who nodded her head in response before leaning up to press one final kiss to her girlfriend's lips. 

“Love you,” Sara said as she opened a portal to the Waverider. She heard Ava call out a ‘love you too,’ before she stepped through the portal crashing into Nora in the process. 

“Oh sorry, I was just about to open a portal,” Nora explained before stepping through the already open portal into Ava’s office and watched as it closed behind her. 

“Morning,” Ava said with a small smile on her face at the presence of her best friend. She sat down at the chair behind her desk with Nora doing the same but sitting in the armchair in front of Ava’s desk instead. 

“How did this morning go?” Nora asked referring to them taking Riley to her first day of school. 

“She cried so much, it was heartbreaking she was so upset, but her teacher seemed nice enough, I took some pictures before we left this morning do you wanna see?” Ava asked, clearly excited about being able to show people how cute Riley is. Nora nodded her head and leaned over the desk slightly so that she could see the pictures on Ava’s phone properly. 

“She is the cutest,” Nora handed the phone back to Ava and the two of them got on with their work. The Bureau was peaceful and Ava liked days like that because it meant she could focus on her paperwork properly, without any distractions. 

Meanwhile, things on the Waverider were also pretty quiet there had been no sign of a change to the timeline all day. Which meant that there was nothing for the Legends to do, they all sat around the ship doing their own thing. Zari was playing video games in her room, Charlie, Mick, and John were all around the kitchen table drinking together, Ray was in his lab working on something and Sara was sat in the parlour worrying about Riley. She knew that the girl would probably be fine and she would be having so much fun, at her first day of school, that she had probably forgotten all about being upset over having to leave Sara and Ava. 

“Gideon are you sure that there is nothing wrong with the timeline?” Sara asked for what felt like the millionth time that day. 

“I assure you, Captain, everything is normal. Although it is almost 3 o’clock in DC and you asked me to remind you to meet Ava in her office,” Gideon said and Sara frowned at the empty space in front of her. She quickly grabbed one of the many time couriers that were laying around the Waverider and opened a portal to Ava’s office. 

When she stepped through the portal Ava was sorting some files out and putting them in their correct places. However, she quickly stopped what she was doing when she heard the sound of a portal closing behind her. 

“Hey, is it three already?” Ava questioned. 

“That’s what Gideon told me,” Sara said and the taller blonde finished putting the files away. Once she had done they were back in Ava’s car and on their way to pick Riley up from school. 

“I hope she was okay today,” Ava let out a sigh. 

“There’s only one way to find out, come on let’s go,” Sara hopped out of the car and waited for Ava to walk round to her side when she linked their fingers together as they walked towards Riley’s classroom. 

When they arrived there were already a lot of parents waiting outside for their kids to be let out of class. They weren’t waiting long before the classroom door opened and a flurry of kids came rushing out. Riley spotter then straight away and ran towards them, she launched herself into Sara’s arms without warning; luckily Ava had quick reflexes and stopped the two of them from crashing to the floor. 

“Hey baby, did you have fun?” Sara questioned when the girl pulled away from her and wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist. 

“It was so fun, I made a friend she’s called Olivia and she said that she knows you,” Riley said before taking her backpack off of her back and rummaging through it. 

“She knows me?” Sara was beyond confused, she had never met the kid in her life how did she know her?

“She said that you are a superhero, here she wants you to sign this please,” Riley held out a crumpled piece of paper out in front of her with a pencil in her other hand. 

Ava watched in amusement as Sara took the paper and pencil from Riley and started to write on it. She quickly signed the note before handing it back to the girl in front of her and the second it was in Riley’s hand, she ran over to a girl nearby and handed it to her, before running back over to Sara and Ava. 

They left the school and headed towards the ice cream parlor near the apartment. Ava ordered a mint choc chip in a cone, Sara ordered rocky road in and cone and Riley just wanted a plain chocolate ice cream in a chocolate cone. They left the ice cream parlor with their ice creams in hand as they headed to the park across the road, where they found themselves sitting on a picnic bench near the pond. 

“What did you do today?” Ava asked the small girl sitting opposite her on the bench. 

“We had a storytime and then we did some drawings, and then we had recess and that’s when Olivia told me that you’re a superhero she said that she saw you on TV and you were with a dragon, are you really?” Riley asked clearly excited about the idea of Sara being a superhero. 

The smaller blonde woman nodded hesitantly before looking over at Ava for help because she had no clue what to say to the girl. She didn’t consider herself a hero she was just doing her job. “She is absolutely a superhero, she’s amazing,” Ava said softly looking at her with eyes full of love. Whenever Ava looked at her like that it made her melt, she didn’t know what to do with herself she turned into a blushing mess. 

“That is so cool!” Riley exclaimed before turning her attention back to the ice cream in her hand that had melted slightly and was dripping down her arm. 

“Come here you,” Ava grabbed a napkin and wiped Riley’s arm and her face for her once she had finished eating the ice cream. 

The three of them moved from the bench and they walked around the pond before heading home, where Ava cooked Riley’s favorite pasta bake for dinner. After they finished eating they resided to the couch, Riley was curled up in Ava’s lap and Sara was snuggled into her side as she flicked through the different channels before settling on some crime show that she knew Ava loved. 

They watched TV for about an hour before they went upstairs and put Riley in the bath. She usually put up a fight about going in the bath, but tonight she was still so excited about her day at school that she didn’t care enough to fight against it. After bath time was over Sara wrapped Riley up in a towel, put her pajamas on and dried her hair for her. 

When it came to Riley’s bedtime the small girl tried her very best to avoid going to sleep. Ava and Sara have both read multiple books to her, but she refused to fall asleep because she was too excited about going to school again the next day. 

“If you fall asleep tomorrow will come quicker and then you will be able to go back to school,” Ava tried her best to persuade her to fall asleep and that seemed to work because as Sara grabbed another book to read, Riley’s eyes started to shut; and wishing five minutes she was out like a light. 

The two of them left the room leaving the door open a few centimeters in case Riley needed anything. Ava grabbed onto Sara’s hand and dragged her to their bedroom, they quickly changed into their pajamas and crawled into bed next to one another. 

Sara wrapped herself around Ava, she had her head resting on the taller blondes chest, her arm slung over her waist and her legs tangled up with Ava’s. 

“I’m so glad she had a good day, I don’t know what we would have done if she hated it,” Ava mumbled into the darkness of their bedroom. 

“I know me too, but if she didn’t we would have figured something out we always do,” Sara said. 

“So how does it feel to be dating a famous person?” Sara joked, referring to Riley’s new friend recognizing her earlier that day. Ava rolled her eyes and even though the room was dark she knew that her girlfriend had her signature smirk plastered on her face. 

“Oh it feels great, who knew the Sara Lance would fall for a commoner like me,” Ava said letting out a dramatic sigh. 

“Shut up,” Sara said playfully, before pressing her lips against the base of Ava’s neck where she placed a few kisses before moving up to her face. Sara untangled herself from Ava and instead, she climbed on top of her, straddling her hips. She cupped Ava’s face and peppering her face with kisses. “God I love you.”

Ava was thankful that the room was dark because her cheeks turned a deep shade of red, even after all of the time that they had been together Sara still managed to turn her into a blushing mess. 

“I love you too, so much.”


	6. Six

It had taken the little family of three to get used to the rush of a morning, there were some mornings where Riley refused to get out of bed and get ready; because after the first week of school, the novelty of it had worn off for the small girl and she didn’t enjoy it that much anymore. However, they quickly found a routine and were able to stick with it. Sara was the one to get Riley up out of bed and ready for the day, while Ava worked on getting breakfast ready for the three of them as well as making Riley’s lunch for the day. 

Sara loved their mornings, they were always so hectic and rushed but she wouldn’t trade it for the world, because it gave the couple a sense of normalcy, and because it actually made the Waverider seem peaceful. 

However, today was not peaceful at all. The second she stepped through the portal onto the bridge Gideon had informed her that there was a major disruption in the timeline. Queen Mary the First had found herself in the middle of Manchester, England in the year 2015. There were many reports of her shouting about Catholicism as well as her and her army capturing people off of the streets. 

They arrived in Manchester, England and before getting off of the ship Sara talked the team through their plan once again before leaving the Waverider and attempting to fix the issue. They split into two teams, Zari and Charlie were on one team and Sara, Ray and John were on the other team. Each team was at opposite sides of the large crowd that had appeared in the city center. Sara shoved her way through the crowd where she got a better look at the Queen and her army, which appeared to be a bunch of brainwashed citizens from this period of time. Sara let out a small sigh of relief at that discovery because that meant all they had to do was memory flash the army and they went back to their normal lives, whereas if they were from the same time period as Queen Mary then it meant that they would have to round each and every one of them up and take them back to their own time. Which in Sara’s opinion was a huge hassle. 

After watching the Queen, reel off orders to her army, she noticed a boy; who looked to be around twelve years old. He walked over to the Queen and stared up at her in awe, he looked so excited to see the Queen of England from the 1500s. 

The boy slowly got closer to her and a member of her army pulled out a gun from inside his jacket and aimed it at the boy. Sara moved quickly and dived in front of the boy. 

Everything after that felt like it happened in slow motion. 

The soldier didn’t hesitate in pulling the trigger and the bullet flew from the gun and hit Sara in the abdomen, causing her to fall to the ground hard. Her hands flew to apply pressure to the wound to try and buy herself a little more time. Everything around her turned into a blur and it started to sound like she was underwater. 

The boy ran in the opposite direction to where Queen Mary was and the Legends rushed over to her side, Ray scooped her up into his arms so that they could get away from the Queen and her army. They walked over to an area that was fairly empty and Zari opened a portal to the med bay. Ray carefully laid the Captain down on the bed and hooked her up to Gideon. 

“Okay, who is going to call Ava?” Zari questioned. 

There was a chorus of ‘not it’ before Zari let out a sigh as she left the room. “Gideon can you get me a line on Ava please.”

“Right away miss Tomaz,” Gideon responded and it wasn’t even twenty seconds later when Ava’s face appeared on the screen on her iPad. 

“Zari? Is everything okay?” Ava asked with a concerned expression on her face when she noticed that Zari looked worried. 

“Um, no not really, you’re gonna wanna come over here it’s Sara-” before Zari could even finish speaking the screen went black and a portal opened up in front of her, Ava stepped through it. 

“What happened is she okay?” Ava asked, her voice wavering slightly with worry and Zari just shook her head and lead the Director to the med bay where her girlfriend was being treated. Her skin was drained of color and the only noise that filled the room was the beeps of the heart monitor above Sara’s head. 

The second Ava laid eyes on her girlfriend she rushed to her side and grabbed onto the hand that didn’t have a bunch of wires attached to it. She just stared at Sara’s limp body as if she was waiting for her to wake up and say this was all a big joke. Except that didn’t happen, Sara remained asleep and the rest of the Legends looked equally as worried about their Captain. 

After a few moments, Ava finally found her voice, “what happened?”

“Queen Mary the first had an Army in England 2015, we went there to try and take her back to her own time but a boy got too close to the Queen and one of her army men pulled a gun out on him, she jumped in front of him and the guy shot her,” Ray explained. 

Ava didn’t say anything else, instead, she gripped onto Sara’s hand and just looked at her girlfriend. She was trying her absolute hardest not to cry, and she didn’t want to cry when the whole team was in the room so instead she clenched her free fist so hard that her nails dug into her skin and drew blood. 

“We’re going to try and figure out what to do about Queen Mary, let us know if you need anything, Ava,” Zari said softly, bringing Ava out of her head, the Director just nodded her head and watched the team leave the room with the doors closing behind them. 

Once they had gone she finally let go, and sobs wracked her body. “Sara please come back to me, to us. I can’t do this without you, I don’t know how, please,” Ava’s voice was so weak, she sounded so defeated. 

Ava let the tears fall as she rested her head on Sara’s shoulder, as she listened to the steady beeps of the heart monitor above their heads. She stayed like that for the rest of the day, until she realized that she had to pick Riley up from school. 

“I’ll be back Sara, I love you,” Ava whispered before pressing a kiss to Sara’s head. She headed out to the bridge to open a portal but she was stopped by Zari before she could even tap on her time courier. 

“Where are you going?” Zari asked softly when she saw the distressed expression on Ava’s face. 

“I have to pick Riley up from school,” she explained. 

“Go back to Sara, I’ll go and pick her up,” Zari wrapped her arms around the taller blonde woman and Ava just melted into Zari’s arms. She didn’t usually like being hugged unless it was Sara or Riley, but she really needed to be held by someone in that moment. 

Ava whispered a soft, ‘thank you’ before heading back to the med bay where Sara was. She sat back down in her original seat and gently grabbed onto her girlfriend's hand. She wasn’t sure how long she had been sat there for but she knew it had been a long time since Zari sent her back to the med bay. Her mind quickly drifted to Riley and she wondered if she was okay with being in an unfamiliar place, because they don’t bring her onto the Waverider and whether the Legends had fed her. Before she could do anything about it the small girl wandered into the room. 

“Hey sweetheart,” Ava said softly as the small girl walked over to them slowly, she glanced over at Sara’s sleeping body with a slightly scared expression on her face. Ava opened her arms and Riley climbed onto her lap and cuddled into her. 

“Why is she sleeping?” Riley asked. 

“She got hurt sweetie,” Ava murmured into Riley’s hair as she wrapped her arms around the girl a little tighter, to try and stop herself from crying again. 

“Oh, is she okay?”

“She will be, but for now we just have to be here for her okay?” Ava said and Riley nodded her head and leaned back into Ava’s embrace. 

Moments later Zari came running into the room, slightly out of breath. “Oh there you are, sorry Ava, come on Riley we’re gonna watch a movie,” Zari tried to convince Riley to follow her but the girl just shook her head. 

“I can’t, we have to stay here with her,” Riley explained and Zari looked at the girl with a skeptical look on her face, I sure whether Ava wanted her in the med bay. 

“It’s okay Z,” Ava said and the totem bearer nodded her head before leaving the med bay, closing the door behind her. 

After around half an hour Riley started to get a little restless. “Can we color?” Riley asked. 

“Yeah, I’ll go and get your coloring book, sweetie,” Ava lifted Riley off of her lap and onto the floor, she glanced over at Sara who was still sleeping before heading to the fabrication room. 

She tapped a few buttons and Gideon began fabricating a coloring book and some crayons for Riley. She grabbed the book and crayons and headed back to the med bay, she was about to walk into the room but before she could walk through the door she heard Riley talking to Sara and she froze. 

“You have to wake up soon, please mommy is so sad, I don’t like people being sad, I want everyone to be happy because being happy is fun. But mommy is super sad because you are sleeping,” Riley said, and Ava almost broke down into tears because Riley called her mommy. However, she could only hold the tears back for so long before they started to roll down her cheeks. The whole day had been so overwhelming for the Director already, and now Riley is calling her mommy, even if it isn’t to her face, it makes her heart swell with happiness. 

She quickly wiped away her tears and made sure she didn’t look like she had been crying when she went back into the room. 

“Yay, what shall we color first?” Riley jumped off of the chair next to Sara’s bed and settled on the floor with her coloring books and crayons. “Do you want to color too?” Riley asked when she noticed Ava looking down at her with tears in her eyes. The Director nodded her head and joined the girl on the floor at the end of Sara’s bed. 

The two of them drew a bunch of pictures for when Sara wakes up, Riley scribbled her name on the corners of each drawing. She made Ava do the same before putting them into a neat pile ready to give to Sara when she wakes up. 

Once they had cleared away the coloring stuff, they moved back over to the chair next to Sara’s bed. It wasn’t long after, that Riley started to yawn and curl into Ava as she tried to fight falling asleep. “Are you sleepy princess?” Ava asked softly when she heard Riley yawn once again. 

The girl just nodded her head against Ava’s chest and tried to snuggle back into her.

“Come on, let's get you to bed.”

Ava glanced over at Sara to make sure everything was okay and her vitals hadn’t changed in the few seconds since she last checked. Luckily they hadn’t, so she stood up with Riley in her arms and carried her towards Sara’s sleeping quarters on the ship. They walked into the room and there was a small set of purple pajamas laid out at the end of the bed next to Riley’s favorite bedtime book. Ava quickly helped Riley change into the pajamas before tucking her into bed. 

She climbed onto the bed next to her and read the book to Riley. She tried her hardest to put on all of the different voices for the different characters like Sara usually does when she reads the bedtime story. It wasn’t as good as when Sara does it and Ava knew Riley would have commented on it if she wasn’t so tired. 

They reached the end of the book and Riley was just about to drift off to sleep, Ava pressed a kiss on her forehead and pulled the covers up a little more to make sure she was warm enough. 

“Goodnight sweetie, I love you, I’ll be in the med bay if you need me okay,” Ava said before getting off of the bed. 

“Goodnight mommy I love you,” Riley mumbled and the ‘love you’ sounded more like ‘luff you’ but Ava couldn’t focus on that. Riley had just called her mommy to her face, this time she didn’t hold back the tears. She looked at the small girl who was now snoring softly, curled up in the middle of Sara’s bed, she had her giant stuffed Simba (that Zari had gone and picked up for her along with the pajamas and the book) clutched against her chest. A small smile worked its way onto Ava’s face and she quickly made her way back to the med bay. 

Sara was still sleeping and Ava practically ran to her side. She intertwined her fingers with Sara’s and brought their hands up to her lips before pressing a soft kiss to the back of Sara’s hand. “She called me mommy, Sara,” Ava whispered, her voice cracking slightly when she said Sara’s name. 

Ava knew that the sedative that Sara was on was extremely strong to make sure that she didn’t wake up while Gideon was working on healing her bullet wound. She also knew that Sara probably wouldn’t be able to hear a single thing that Ava told her, but that didn’t stop the Director from telling her girlfriend about her day and about Riley’s day. That was something that they did every time that Sara had to work late because of a mission. They laid in bed and talked about their days before drifting off to sleep and Ava wanted to do that now more than ever, but she couldn’t because Sara was injured. 

Ava tried her best to stay awake but she didn’t manage to stay awake for that long. She ended up falling asleep hunched over in the chair, her hand was gripping onto Sara’s and she was using the smaller woman’s thigh as a pillow. 

Ava woke up the next day with a horrible pain in her neck and her lower back. She didn’t care though, she was more concerned about the fact that Sara was still out of it. 

“Gideon, how is she doing?” Ava asked she looked up at the ceiling as she waited for the AI’s response. 

“I have healed her wound completely, the Captain will be okay. We just have to wait for the sedative to wear off,” Gideon explained and Ava let out a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding. 

Ava settled back into the chair next to Sara’s bed and just held onto her girlfriend's hand. Shortly after Riley walked into the room holding a tray full of food, with Zari walking next to her to make sure she didn’t drop anything. 

“She wanted to make sure you ate breakfast,” Zari explained as Riley handed the tray over to Ava before she moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to Sara. 

“Thank you, Riles,” Ava said softly, looking at the girl with a small smile on her face. 

“Look, the cereal is super colorful!” Riley exclaimed as she pointed to the bowl full of lucky charms. Ava scrunched her nose up at the amount of sugar she was about to eat, but she quickly composed herself because she didn’t want to upset Riley because she was clearly excited about bringing her breakfast. 

Ava finished the bowl of cereal before moving onto the cup of tea that was also on the tray. Riley jumped off of the bed and got closer to the tray on Ava’s lap. 

“Can I try some of that?” She asked pointing to the cup of tea. 

“Careful sweetie it might be hot,” Ava warned and handed the mug over to Riley. The girl took a small sip and handed it back to Ava immediately.

“Bollocks,” Riley mumbled but the room was quiet and Ava heard her. The taller woman looked at Riley with raised eyebrows and an unimpressed look on her face. 

“Excuse me?” Ava said she made a mental note to talk to John because there was no doubt in Ava’s mind that he was the one to teach her this new word. Riley knew immediately that she shouldn’t have said it. Riley moved closer to Sara, it was as if she would protect her from being told off by Ava; even though she was still sleeping. 

“I’m sorry mommy,” Riley whispered and whatever Ava was about to say to the girl was forgotten. Ava froze in place, she wasn’t expecting Riley to call her that again. Ava didn’t move or say anything else and Riley misinterpreted that, she thought that calling Ava ‘mommy’ was bad and she shouldn’t do that. She stayed quiet and waited for Ava to speak. 

“Did you just call me mommy?” Ava asked, still in shock. 

Riley nodded her head and looked up at her with a scared look in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” Riley whispered, she sounded as if she was about to cry. Ava quickly put the tray on the floor and opened her arms, motioning for Riley to sit on her lap. The small girl moved closer to her, she was a little hesitant with her movements but Ava scooped her up into her lap and pulled her into a tight embrace. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for okay?” Ava paused as she pressed a kiss to Riley’s forehead. “You can call me and Sara whatever makes you feel comfortable okay? If you want to call us mommy then you can, if you don’t want to call us mommy that’s absolutely fine too,” Ava reassured Riley, the small blonde girl nodded her head and moved further into Ava’s embrace. 

Ava glanced over at her girlfriend and she had to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall. She wanted nothing more than for Sara to just be okay and awake so that she could have experienced this moment with her.

“Why is she still sleeping?” Riley asked after a few moments of silence. “I want her to come back, I miss her,” Riley mumbled, her voice cracking before she broke down into tears. 

Ava ran her fingers through her soft blonde locks and gently rocked from side to side to help calm Riley down. “I know sweetheart, I want her to come back to us, she will soon. She needs to rest,” Ava explained but Riley’s tears continued to fall. Ava continued to run her fingers through Riley’s hair and it seemed to work, her tears began to subside and she buried her face into Ava’s shirt. 

The room fell silent once again, Riley had fallen asleep cuddling into Ava’s chest. Ava glanced over at Sara, her eyes were still closed and she looked so peaceful. 

“Director Sharpe, Captain Lance is fully healed and should be waking up any minute,” Gideon said and Ava let out a sigh of relief. 

“Thank you, Gideon.”

Ava reached out and grabbed onto Sara’s hand and waited for her girlfriend to wake up. It didn’t take too long Sara slowly opened her eyes and blinked up at the ceiling. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust and for her to realize where she was. Ava gently squeezed Sara’s hand and the smaller blonde looked in her direction with a tired smile on her face. 

“Hey.”

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Ava asked, she quickly moved from her seat with Riley still in her arms as she pressed a soft kiss to Sara’s lips. 

“I feel great, I’m just a little tired,” Sara responded when Ava pulled away from her, “how long was I out for?” 

“A day.”

Sara just nodded her head and started to unhook herself from the wires that attached her to Gideon. Ava quickly reached out and grabbed onto her wrist to stop her. “Gideon, can I go?” Sara asked with a sigh when she realized that Ava wasn’t going to let her leave until Gideon said it was okay. 

“Everything is back to normal, Captain you’re free to go just take it easy,” Gideon said and Sara continued to remove the wires from her arm. 

“Oh, Riley drew some pictures for you,” Ava nodded her head towards the small stack of paper on the table next to Sara’s bed. The Captain grabbed them from the table and flicked through them. 

“Mommy?” Sara whispered when she saw what Riley had written on the corner of one of her drawings. She looked up at Ava with tears in her eyes before glancing down at the sleeping girl in Ava’s lap. 

Ava let out a soft chuckle at the shocked expression on Sara’s face. “Yeah, I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back she was talking to you and she called me mommy, and then again when I put her to bed. But we spoke about it this morning because she called it me again after she apologized for cursing,” Ava explained and a confused look worked its way onto Sara’s face. 

“She cursed?”

“Yeah, which reminds me, we need to speak to John about the language he uses around her because I’m pretty sure that’s where she got it from,” Ava chuckled. 

Riley started to stir in Ava’s arms, she opened her eyes and blinked a few times before realizing that Sara was finally awake. She let out a soft gasp and jumped out of Ava’s embrace before scrambling towards the bed. “Mommy!” Riley squealed excitedly, she climbed up onto the bed and Sara immediately wrapped her arms around her and squeezed her tight. “Are you okay?” Riley questioned when she heard Sara sniffle. 

“Oh uh yeah, I’m fine baby,” Sara quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and buried her face into Riley’s soft blonde locks. 

“Did you like the drawings we made?” Riley asked after a few moments of silence between the three of them. 

“I loved them Ry,” Sara peppered Riley's face with kisses, which caused the little girl to break out into a fit of giggles. 

The three of them quickly left the med bay and found the rest of the team (minus John and Mick) sitting around in the parlour, each of them rushing over to Sara to make sure that she was okay when they appeared in front of them. They stayed on the waverider for a little longer before they said their goodbyes and headed back to their apartment. 

The moment they arrived back at the apartment Riley was basically clinging to Sara like a little koala. Every time she moved Riley was right there by her side for every single move Sara made. 

“What are you doing baby?” Sara was about to close the bathroom door behind her but Riley quickly shuffled in the way of it so that she could follow her into the bathroom. 

“I have to make sure you don’t get hurt again,” Riley explained as if that was the most obvious reason for her to follow Sara into the bathroom. 

“Oh Riley, come here,” Sara lifted Riley up onto the counter next to the sink so that she could see her properly. “I’m not going to get hurt, my job can be pretty dangerous sometimes but I am going to try my best to be careful because I have to come home and make sure that you and Av- uh, I have to make sure that you and mommy are staying out of trouble,” Sara still felt a little weird referring to herself and Ava as mommy.

“More like I have to keep you out of trouble.”

The two of them quickly turned their attention to Ava who was now leaning against the doorframe as she looked at the two of them with a loving smile on her face before moving to stand next to Sara. 

“We have to stay with her right mommy? So that she doesn't get hurt again,” Riley looked over at Ava for confirmation but the taller woman just let out a soft chuckle. 

“We do, but I think following her into the bathroom is a little much,” Ava said, she bit back a laugh because she didn’t want Riley to think that she was making fun of her when she was just trying to do a nice thing for Sara. 

“Oh, should we wait outside the bathroom?” Riley suggested and Sara just raised an eyebrow at the small girl, who seemed genuinely concerned about where she should wait while Sara used the bathroom. 

“How about you go and change into your pajamas and we can watch a movie in our room?” Sara suggested and Riley nodded her head excitedly, Ava lifted her down from the counter before she practically sprinted out of the room. 

“You know this means she’s gonna fall asleep in our bed right?” Ava glanced at her girlfriend and the smaller woman responded by wrapping her arms around Ava’s waist and she nuzzled her nose into her neck.

“Yeah, I just thought it would be easier than trying to get her into her own bed because there is no way that is happening tonight, she just followed me into the bathroom in case I got hurt for god sake,” Sara chuckled and Ava hummed in agreement. 

By the time the two of them left the bathroom, they headed to their bedroom and was met with Riley already settled in the middle of their bed with the covers pulled up to her chin and her stuffed Simba by her side. That night Ava only had around two hours of sleep, she had no covers on her for the majority of the night; because Sara likes to turn herself into a human burrito at night. She also had Riley’s elbows or knees pressing into her back and side all night, which made it difficult to sleep. 

But nothing made her happier than knowing that she could spend a whole night snuggled up in bed with her two favorite people in the world. Even if they did make her lose out on sleep. 

She wouldn't change it for the world.


	7. Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late update, I have been busy with University. But, this chapter is slightly longer than usual so I hope you enjoy it!:)

A few months have passed since Sara was shot and Riley refused to leave her side for a full month since it happened; which made it very difficult to get the small girl to go to school and for them to get her to sleep in her own bed. During that time Ava was also worried about her girlfriend. She made sure to call her after she finished every mission and forced her to go to the med bay each time, even if it was for something as small as a paper cut. 

At first, it annoyed Sara, but she quickly realized that they were only doing it because they loved her, and once she realized that, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside every time they so much as told her to be careful. 

However, the next couple of months after that things started going back to how they were before. Ava stopped hovering around her so much, which Sara was grateful for because it was coming up to Ava’s birthday, and it would have been a little difficult to plan anything with Ava watching over her every second of the day to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. 

She had bought most of her gifts months ago but there was still one important gift that she needed to buy, she wanted to make this birthday special because the previous year she had spent her birthday locked in a prison cell with Nora and Mona. Granted she did make a best friend out of the situation, but there are better ways to spend your birthday. 

The three of them and the Legends were all going out for dinner to celebrate Ava’s birthday. Sara had originally planned for just the two of them to go out for dinner, but Riley was so excited about Ava’s birthday she decided that she and Ava could have dinner alone the night after. 

“Do we have to dress up fancy tomorrow?” Riley questioned.

Sara was trying to get the small girl ready to leave for the mall before Ava could ask them where they’re going and try to join them. It’s not that Sara didn’t want her girlfriend to be there. 

She did, she really did. 

She just didn’t want to ruin her birthday gift, which they were going to get. 

“Yeah baby we have to dress fancy, now let me tie your shoelaces,” Sara quickly tied the laces on Riley’s red converse and the two of them were ready to leave. “Aves were leaving, we’ll be back in around an hour or two,” Sara said as she walked into the kitchen where Ava was sitting at the kitchen table staring at her laptop screen. She pressed a quick kiss to Ava’s lips before leaving the room again and heading out to the car. 

When they finally arrived at the mall Riley was complaining that she was hungry so they stopped off at the food court and grabbed some food. After that, they could finally go to the store to pick up Ava’s birthday gift. 

“Mom, can I get one?” Riley asked as she looked through the glass at the many different rings in front of her. 

“Maybe when you’re a little bit older, right now we need to pick up the one I ordered for mommy, okay?” Sara held her hand out and Riley grabbed onto it and followed Sara into the store. 

They were greeted by a cheerful woman, she introduced herself with a smile and gave Riley a lollipop. 

“I came into the store a few weeks ago and ordered an engagement ring, the guy said it would be ready to pick up today,” Sara explained. 

“Yeah, do you have your receipt and I can get that sorted for you,” The woman asked, Sara, nodded her head and handed her the crumpled receipt from her pocket. “You can take a seat over there I’ll just pop in the back and grab it for you.”

“What’s an engagement ring?” Riley questioned once they had settled down onto the seat in the corner of the room. 

“It’s a ring you give to someone when you ask them to marry you,” Sara explained. 

“Are you going to ask mommy to marry you?” 

“Yeah I’m gonna ask mommy to marry me but it’s a surprise though so you can’t tell anyone okay,” Riley nodded her head and pretended to zip her mouth closed. Sara just chuckled at the girl and before Riley could ask any more questions the woman came back over to them with a small box in her hand. 

“If you want to follow me over here we can take a look at it and make sure it’s exactly what you wanted,” the dark-haired woman lead the two of them over to a desk with a computer on it and two comfy looking chairs in front of the desk. Sara sat down and pulled Riley onto her lap so she didn’t have to worry about the small girl getting bored and wandering off. “I’ll let you take a look while I just go and grab a bag for you.”

Sara grabbed the small velvet box from the desk and opened it to see the shiny silver ring sitting in the box. It was a plain silver band with a square cut diamond sitting on the band. 

Originally Sara wanted to get Ava the flashiest ring in the store so that she could show off just how much she loved her. However, she quickly realized that Ava was not a materialistic person, she wouldn’t want a big flashy diamond ring. She also realized that she didn't need to get her a big fancy ring just to show how much she loved her, Ava knew just how much the Captain loved her. 

Which is how she decided on the ring in her hand. 

“Pretty,” Riley whispered as she carefully reached her hand out to touch the diamond. 

“It is, isn’t it,” Sara's voice wavered slightly with nerves because it finally hit her that she was asking Ava to spend the rest of her life with her. It wasn’t like they hadn’t spoken about it, they had many times after being in Ava’s purgatory, so she knew that it was what Ava wanted but there was always the possibility that Ava could say no.

The woman came back over with a bag in her hand, Sara handed the box back over to her and she wrapped it up in the bag carefully for her. Once she did that Sara paid for it and the two of them walked around the mall for a little while, they decided to go and look at clothes for Riley. 

“Can I get this?” Riley asked holding up a Cinderella dress. 

“Baby no, we have to get you a proper dress,” Sara said and Riley let out a long sigh. “Come on, I saw one over there.” 

Sara held her hand out for Riley to grab and the two of them headed over to the other side of the store where all of the dresses were. Riley let out an excited squeal when she saw a bright orange one. “That one!” She practically yelled when she pointed it out to Sara. 

“Oh, wow. That is bright, are you sure that’s the one you want?” Sara asked as she took it down from the rack and held it up in front of Riley. 

“Yes please,” Riley said softly, she took the dress from Sara’s hands and held it up against herself. “Does it look good?” She tried to look down at the dress, but she couldn’t see it properly. 

“It looks amazing, Ry. How about we go and buy it and then we can go home and show mommy?” Sara suggested but Riley quickly shook her head. 

“No! It has to be a surprise, I saw in a movie that dresses have to be a surprise for people because it’s bad luck for them to see it,” Riley explained. 

“Okay, we won’t show mommy.”

When they arrived home, Ava was sitting on the couch with her legs tucked tightly under her, scrolling through her phone. 

“Mommy!” Riley ran towards her and practically launched herself at Ava. The taller blonde dropped her phone onto her lap and caught the small girl. 

“Hey princess, did you have fun with mama at the mall?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head excitedly. “Did you get anything?” 

“Yeah we went to a jewel, jerwel, we went to a jerwel,” Riley stopped speaking and let out a frustrated sigh because she couldn’t pronounce the word. 

“A jewelry store?” Ava suggested. 

“Yep and I got a lollipop,” Riley said and Sara rushed into the room when she heard the two of them talking about a jewelry store, she was afraid that Riley had told Ava what she was planning. 

“Ry come here for a second baby,” Sara said and the small girl hopped off of Ava’s lap and followed Sara upstairs. 

“Can you remember what we said in the mall about not telling mommy what we bought today?” Sara asked and Riley nodded her head. 

“I didn’t tell her what we got,” Riley looked up at Sara with a proud smile on her face. 

“Okay, good,” Sara paused for a moment. “Come on let’s go back downstairs to mommy,” Riley nodded her head and ran down the stairs. 

“Hey baby,” Sara mumbled into the top of Ava’s head as she wrapped her arms loosely around Ava’s neck from behind. Ava leaned into her girlfriends’ embrace with a soft smile on her face. 

“Hey did you two have a good day together?” Ava asked and Riley snuggled into Ava’s side as Sara sat on the other side of the taller blonde with her legs draped over Ava’s thighs. 

“We had so much fun didn’t we Ry?” Riley nodded her head and let out a yawn. 

“Are you ready for a nap?” Ava asked and Riley tried to disagree but she let out another yawn. “Okay come on princess let’s put you down for a nap,” Ava lifted Riley up from the couch and tucked her into bed for a nap. 

Once Riley had fallen asleep Ava made her way back downstairs and joined Sara on the couch. “Did you get anything from the mall?” Ava asked and Sara panicked for a second because if she lied and said no then Ava would know immediately because at this point in their relationship Ava knows Sara better than she knows herself. 

“Oh, uh, we just got a dress for Riley for dinner tomorrow, but she said you can’t see it because she thinks it’s bad luck,” Sara said with a small chuckle. 

“She’s adorable,” a small smile worked its way onto Ava’s face at the thought of Riley wanting to surprise her with her new dress. “Before I forget Nate’s mom called while you were at the mall to invite us to thanksgiving.”

“Really?”

“Yeah I said we would go, we don’t have to if you don’t want to though. I just thought that she might be a little lonely now without Hank around, especially since it’s the holidays,” Ava rambled and Sara quickly pressed a chaste kiss to her lips to get her to stop. 

“Aves, of course, we’re going. What else are we going to do? Ray and Nora are going to Ray’s mom’s house, Z and Behrad are going home for the holidays, Nates obviously gonna be at home, Mick hates thanksgiving and John doesn’t celebrate. I think it would be a little sad if it was just the three of us over Thanksgiving,” Sara explained and Ava let out a relieved sigh. 

“Okay good, last year was actually pretty good despite the chaos at the bureau, and Dot is lovely” Ava explained as she leaned into Sara’s side with her head resting on the smaller blonde's shoulder. 

“Okay then Thanksgiving is sorted, first we have your birthday to get through,” Sara said with a smile creeping across her face, but Ava just let out a soft groan at the realization that her birthday is tomorrow. 

“Please don’t make a big deal out of it, I already agreed to dinner with everyone, I think that’s celebration enough,” Ava tried to reason with her girlfriend. The smaller blondes soft smile quickly turned into a smirk and that immediately let Ava know that she was up to something. “I don’t even want to know, I’m going to make dinner.”

And with that Ava stood up from the couch, as she walked in front of Sara the smaller blonde quickly leaned forward and lightly hit Ava’s ass, causing the director to stop in her tracks and throw a playful glare over her shoulder at the Captain. 

The rest of the night consisted of the three of them eating dinner and Riley being more excited than Ava about her birthday. When Riley started to tell Ava about all of the exciting things that they could do, Ava was about to turn her down and tell her that she didn’t like her birthday. However, she kept that thought to herself and just went along with her excitement when she realized that this is the first birthday that Riley has probably ever celebrated; because there was no way that her uncle would have celebrated any birthdays with her. 

The next morning Ava woke up to a small figure jumping up and down at the end of the bed. She had what looked to be a small box wrapped up in some bright colored paper and a card. 

“Mommy! Mommy! Wake up! It’s your birthday,” Riley squealed before flopping down onto the bed in between Sara and Ava, landing on the taller woman in the process. 

“Come here you little monkey, it’s so early,” Ava pulled Riley into her arms and glanced over at the alarm clock on Sara’s side of the bed, that read 5:48 am. 

“But it’s your birthday, you can’t go back to sleep you have to open your gifts,” Riley said with a sad pout on her face. 

“What if she opens that one and then we sleep for a couple more hours? Deal?” Sara suggested and Riley agreed immediately before shoving the gift in Ava’s face. 

The taller blonde sat up and Riley did the same so she could watch her open it, while Sara watched from where she was sprawled out under the covers still. Ava tore the paper open to reveal a small cardboard box, she carefully lifted the lid to reveal a bright purple handmade bracelet. 

“Do you like it?” Riley asked she was practically buzzing with excitement when Ava nodded her head and slipped it onto her wrist. 

“I love it, thank you so much,” Ava whispered. She pulled the small blonde girl into a tight hug and peppered her face with kisses. 

After that, she finally agreed to settle back down and sleep for a couple more hours, but she couldn’t lie back down without standing the card up on the dresser at the other end of the room. Sara took that as an opportunity to lean over and cup Ava’s face with her hands before leaning in and giving her a soft kiss. They pulled away after a few seconds and moved so their foreheads were touching and Sara kept her hands on Ava’s face. 

“Happy birthday my love,” Sara mumbled. 

“Ew no kissing,” Riley’s face scrunched up into a look of disgust at the thought of seeing her mom's kiss. 

“What like this?” Sara leaned in and gave Ava another kiss, but this time she made an obnoxiously loud kissing sound causing the small girl to voice her disgust once again. 

“Come and cuddle with us monkey,” Sara patted the small space in between her and Ava and the small girl launched herself into it. The three of them snuggled up with one another and within a few minutes, she heard soft snoring sounds coming from the girls on her right-hand side. 

Instead of falling back to sleep Ava just stared up at the ceiling and let her mind think back to her birthday last year. Despite being locked in a containment cell for the most part of it, it was still a happy memory for her because she made two friends out of it. She then let her mind think back to the day she found out that she was a clone. That day was the worst day she had ever had, from that day she believed that she was unloveable and that she wouldn’t find happiness. 

Thinking about that day didn’t hurt as much anymore though, because she found love in an ex-assassin who also believed that she was unloveable. They learned how to love one another and in the process how to love themselves and Ava thought that, that was the most beautiful thing. And here she was with that same woman over a year later. They’re building a whole life together and they now have a daughter together, who was so excited about everything despite how rough the past few years had been for her. 

It was in that moment that Ava realized that maybe her birthday wasn’t so bad. She was surrounded by the people she loved most in the world, and they were so excited about her birthday that the thought of it made a wave of happiness spread across her chest. 

Their morning was a little hectic. Once they had woken up properly, Ava was in the bathroom when she heard Sara and Riley whispering about something. After that, she was ordered to stay in the bedroom until they told her to come out, and it killed Ava because it sounded like the two of them were destroying the kitchen and there was nothing she could do about it. After almost two hours Riley came into the room and dragged her downstairs into the kitchen, where a small round sponge cake was sitting on the kitchen counter with a few candles in. The two of them sang happy birthday before Ava blew out the candles. 

Ava was sure that she had never been as happy as she was in that moment. 

The rest of the day was a lot more chilled out. The three of them sat on the couch eating cake and watching movies until it was time to get ready for dinner with the legends. Ava was the first one ready so she went to help Riley with her dress. It didn’t take long to help Riley get ready so the two of them sat on the couch waiting for Sara. 

“Sara we’re gonna be late, hurry up,” Ava yelled up the stairs and seconds later her breath got caught in her throat when she saw her girlfriend appear at the top of the stairs. She was wearing a tight black dress that ended just above her knees, her hair was curled and her eye makeup was dark making her bright blue eyes stand out even more. 

“I- wow, you look stunning,” Ava looked over at her girlfriend with so much love in her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to drag her back upstairs to bed. But she quickly got rid of that thought when she remembered that there was a five-year-old behind them and the rest of the legends are probably waiting for them at the restaurant. 

“Let’s go,” Sara walked past her girlfriend with a smirk on her face before she grabbed onto Riley’s hand and led the small girl out to the car. “Do you have your sleepover bag for later?” Sara asked as she fastened Riley into her car seat. The small girl nodded her head excitedly and pointed towards the Lion King backpack on the floor. 

Originally Sara had planned to propose on Ava’s birthday, but then Ava decided that she wanted the Legends at dinner with the three of them. So Sara changed her plans, she was going to take Ava out for dinner on Friday after her birthday, after dinner, she was going to take the Director to her favorite spot in the city and propose. However, when she told Ray and Nora about this plan last night when she was hiding the ring on the Waverider, the couple convinced her to do it after dinner on Ava’s birthday instead. 

It didn’t take long for the three of them to arrive at the restaurant and when they were taken to the table they weren’t surprised to see that they were the first ones to arrive. 

“It’s my mommy’s birthday,” Riley said to the waiter who showed them to their table. 

“Is it? Did you get her a cake?” The young boy asked with the same amount of enthusiasm in his voice as Riley’s. 

“Yep! Me and mama made one for her this morning, it was super fun we had cake for breakfast,” Riley said with a huge smile on her face as she told him all about their day. 

“Well your mommy is so lucky to have you two with her on a special day,” he said and Riley suddenly got shy when he ruffled her hair slightly. She let out a small giggle and ran over to Ava’s side and snuggled up to her. 

“Can I get any drinks or anything for you guys?” The waiter asked. The two women nodded their heads, Sara ordered a bottle of wine for the two of them while Ava finally managed to get Riley to sit down on the empty chair next to her. 

The waiter left and moments later the Legends were being led towards their table. 

“Uncle John!” Riley squealed and jumped up from her chair and launched herself at him. Luckily he caught her in time, he lifted her into the air a little higher than Ava was comfortable with. John noticed the worried look on Ava’s face and only lifted her higher, but he quickly put Riley back down when he noticed the death glare coming from Sara. “No! Again,” Riley demanded with her arms crossed over her chest. 

“Riley sit down, you have to decide what you want to eat,” Ava patted the empty seat next to her and the small girl ran around the table and hopped onto the chair. 

“Happy birthday Aves,” Nora said hugging her from behind. The two of them had grown very close over the past year and the legends were surprised by how soft both Nora and Ava are around one another, because they’re usually these tough women with a hard exterior, but they quickly realized that they didn’t need to be like that around the legends; because they’re family. 

“Thank you Nor,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face when the dark-haired woman dropped an armful of gifts onto her lap. 

“They’re from me and Ray, but you might not want to open the one with the purple wrapping paper until later,” Nora said with a smirk on her face causing Ava’s cheeks to turn a deep shade of red at what she was implying was in the box. 

After everyone said happy birthday to Ava and handed over their gifts they were all finally sat down and ready to order. It didn’t take long for the food to arrive and because the majority of them had ordered pasta. 

“Uncle John can you cut my psegti for me please?” Riley asked looking up at him with pleading eyes. He was about to respond when Ava jumped in. 

“Riles Uncle John is eating, pass it here,” Ava said and John just shook his head and slid the plate in front of him and began to cut up the spaghetti for the small girl. 

Sara leaned over to Ava and whispered, “she has him wrapped around her little finger.”

“She has us all wrapped around her little finger,” Ava let out a soft chuckle before going back to eating their dinner. 

Once they had all finished eating Sara leaned back in her chair and moved her left hand so it was resting on Ava’s upper thigh. The contact shocked the Director at first but she relaxed into the touch. 

Everyone around the table had fallen into a conversation but Ava noticed that Sara wasn’t joining in. Instead, she was sitting in silence staring down at the napkin on the table in front of her. 

“Are you okay babe?” Ava asked. 

“Oh, uh, yeah I’m fine just tired from the food,” Sara lied and Ava knew that the smaller blonde was lying, but she decided not to push it. She would tell her eventually, probably when they’re alone. 

“We can go and sleep when we get home, I’m sure Riles will fall asleep the second her head hits the pillow and then we have the rest of the night to ourselves,” Ava shuffled her chair closer to Sara’s and leaned her head on the captain's shoulder. 

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” Sara mumbled before getting up and heading towards the restroom. Luckily nobody else was there, she stood in front of the mirror before splashing some water onto her face. 

“Is everything okay?” A familiar voice came from behind her, she quickly turned around and was met with a concerned Nora. “You aren’t having second thoughts about this are you?”

“God no, of course not,” Sara paused for a few seconds, “it’s just, I’ve never been this nervous about anything in my life.”

“Ava loves you so much, you know that’s she’s gonna say yes right?” Nora said and Sara just shrugged her shoulders. 

“I guess so? We’ve talked about marriage so much so I know she wants this but there’s always the possibility that she could say no. What if- what if she doesn’t want me to propose on her birthday? God, I should have picked a different day,” Sara let out a sigh. 

“Sara, I think she will be over the moon, she is going to say yes no matter what day you ask her. That woman loves you so much it’s disgusting,” Nora said and it seemed to calm Sara down. She was usually very good at disguising her emotions but this was such a big thing, she was asking the love of her life to be with her forever. Of course, she’s going to be scared. 

“Thank you, Nora,” Sara pulled her into a hug that only lasted a few seconds. 

“No problem, we should probably get back out there before she starts to get suspicious, she tried to come after you but Riley roped her into a conversation about some movie she watched with Z,” Nora explained and the two women left the bathroom and headed back to the table, where the bill had already been paid and everyone was ready to leave. 

“Are you ready to leave babe? Riley’s getting sleepy,” Ava said as she pressed a kiss to the top of Riley’s head. The small girl was almost asleep in Ava’s arms, but Ray moved and took her from the Director. 

“Mommy and I will pick you up tomorrow okay? I love you so much baby,” Sara kisses Riley’s forehead before turning on her heel to look at a very confused Ava. 

“We’ll pick her up? Where is she going?” 

“She’s staying with Ray and Nora tonight because we are going somewhere after this,” Sara explained but the confused look on her girlfriend's face was still there. 

“Okay, where are we going?” Ava questioned, but Sara just shrugged her shoulders with a smirk on her face, before saying goodbye to everyone. Ava said goodbye to everyone and followed Sara out of the restaurant. 

“Is that my time courier?”

“Maybe.”

Sara punched in some coordination and opened a portal to a small, quiet beach in California. There was a red and white picnic blanket laid out under a palm tree with a basket laid on top of it and the tree was wrapped in fairy lights. 

“Sara, I think this is a private beach, I don’t think we should be here,” Ava said and Sara just grabbed onto the taller woman’s hand and dragged her towards the blanket. 

“Sit down, do you want some wine?” Sara asked as she held up a bottle of Ava’s favorite red wine. The Director sat down beside her girlfriend a little hesitant but took the glass of wine from her hand anyway. 

“Did you do all of this?” Ava asked softly, her cheeks turning a soft pink color when the smaller blonde nodded her head. “It’s beautiful.”

The two of them sat in a peaceful silence just enjoying the soft glow of the stars above them. Ava finished her glass of wine and leaned into Sara’s side after placing the glass next to the picnic basket. 

“This is so nice,” Ava let out a content sigh when Sara wrapped an arm around her chest. She moved slightly so that Ava was sitting in between Sara’s legs with her back leaning against the smaller blondes chest. 

“Yeah well you deserve it,” Sara whispered into the top of Ava’s head where she pressed a few soft kisses. 

The air around them fell quiet once again, Sara was silently psyching herself up to ask Ava what she brought her here to ask. 

“Aves?”

“Hmm?”

Sara quickly shuffled out from behind Ava and over to the picnic basket. She opened it and grabbed the small velvet box from the bottom of it and clutched it tightly with both hands. 

“What are you doing?” Ava questioned with a curious look on her face. 

Sara took a deep breath before she finally spoke. 

“Ava Sharpe, you are the most amazing person I have ever met, you make me happier than I ever even dreamed I could be and I love you more than anything in this world,” Sara paused for a second when she noticed tears welling up in Ava’s eyes. She shifted slightly so that she was now on one knee holding the velvet box open in front of Ava. “Aves, will you marry me?”

The taller blonde nodded her head as she tried to wipe the tears from her face. “Yes, god yes I will marry you,” Ava said this time not even bothering to wipe the tears away. 

Sara gently took hold of Ava’s left hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. It was slightly difficult because she couldn’t stop her own hands from shaking. 

Once the ring was on she cupped Sara’s face with her hands and brought their faces together for a passionate kiss. All of Sara’s nerves from before disappeared and she felt like she was at home in Ava’s arms. Sara gently pushed Ava backward until she was laying down on the blanket with Sara on top of her straddling her hips. 

“I love you so much,” Ava whispered in between kisses and it only made Sara want to kiss her more. She moved her hands from Ava’s cheeks and grabbed onto Ava’s wrists, pinning them down next to her head. 

She quickly let go of Ava’s wrists and moved her focus onto unbutton Ava’s shirt, but she was quickly stopped when Ava pulled away from the kiss and grabbed onto her hands. 

“Babe we’re in public, I think that’s a little too much even for us,” Ava said and Sara nodded her head in agreement. 

“Well, how about we go home? We have the apartment all to ourselves until tomorrow,” Sara wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and Ava didn’t need to be asked twice. She jumped up onto her feet and opened a portal to their apartment. 

“Wait what about all of this?” Ava asked referring to the picnic things Sara had set up for them. 

“Don’t worry I’ll clean it up tomorrow,” Sara said and the two of them stepped through the portal into their apartment. Which was a little too messy for Ava’s liking, there were crayons, books and toys dotted everywhere, but she didn’t care about that right now because all she could focus on was the small blonde in front of her. 

Once the portal closed behind them, Sara pulled Ava back into a searing kiss that lasted a few moments before they both pulled away gasping for air. 

“What do you say we take this upstairs, fiancée?” Sara asked with a smirk on her face. 

“Let’s go, fiancée,” Ava responded with a matching smirk on her face before Sara dragged her upstairs to their bedroom.


	8. Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently watched Arrow and I remember Laurel saying something about Sara having a stuffed shark, when she was younger, that she would hug whenever she was upset. I thought that it would be fun to include it in this chapter.

Ava woke up the next morning to the blinding sunlight peeking through the half-opened blinds. Sara was sprawled out half on top of her, the smaller blonde had her head resting on Ava’s chest along with her left hand. Her legs were tangled up with Ava’s and the covers were barely even covering their thighs, but Ava didn’t care about being cold at that moment. She was too happy from the events of the night before. 

She moved her left hand from where it was resting on Sara’s lower back and lifted it up so the diamond ring glistened in the sunlight. She stared at it for a few moments before she moved her hand back to Sara’s lower back and snuggled back into her embrace. She was just about to drift off back to sleep until she felt something tapping her shoulder. 

“Sara stop, sleep some more it’s too early,” Ava mumbled into the top of her fiancées head and tried to fall back to sleep. However, the tapping on her shoulder happened again. This time she was more aware, Sara was asleep and her hand hadn’t moved from her chest this whole time. Ava's eyes shot open and glanced over at the side of the bed, where Riley was standing with a frown on her face as she was holding a bag in her hands. “Shit,” Ava muttered under breath, she scrambled to pull the covers over their naked bodies, throwing Sara off of her in the process. 

“What’s going on?” Sara asked sitting up slightly. Her voice was thick with sleep and the way she moved showed that she was still tired, but she quickly woke up when she realized that Riley was standing next to their bed while they were both completely naked. She pulled the covers up to her chin and pressed herself against Ava to make sure that the small girl couldn’t see anything. 

“I can’t find my favorite shoes mommy,” Riley said with a pout on her face. 

“Oh um, the red converse?” Ava questioned and Riley nodded her head in response. “I put them on the shoe shelf at the bottom so you could reach them easier princess,” Ava explained and as soon as she said that Riley ran out of the room with the bag in her hand as she yelled ‘thank you’ over her shoulder. 

The second Riley was out of the room Ava jumped out of bed and closed the door behind her. She grabbed some clothes from her dresser and threw them on before grabbing some for Sara and throwing them at her. “Get dressed now.”

“Aves relax it’s not like she saw anything we were under the covers,” Sara said, she threw the covers off of herself and started to change into the clothes that Ava threw at her. 

“The sheets weren’t covering anything past our thighs Sara, I pulled them over us when I realized she was standing there,” Ava began to pace, “oh my god we have probably scarred her for life.”

Sara stood in front of her fiancée and gently grabbed her wrists to stop her from pacing. “Relax baby, she only saw us naked. It could have been much worse she could have walked in on us actually having sex. Believe me, that would scar her for life I walked in on my parents when I was 14 and I couldn’t look them in the eye for like 3 months,” Sara shuddered at the memory. “Besides she’s 5, she doesn’t even know what sex is, she’s gonna be fine.”

“I guess you’re right, wait why is she even here? Didn’t she stay with Nora and Ray last night?” Ava began to panic once again. 

“Let’s go and find out,” Sara laced her fingers with Ava’s and pulled her out of the room and downstairs where Ray was leaning against the kitchen counter. He looked a little stiff and more awkward than usual, Sara looked at him with a slight frown on her face until she noticed their clothes dotted around the kitchen floor from last night. Ava looked equally as embarrassed as Ray was and she quickly picked every item of clothing from the floor and put them in the washing basket. 

“Sorry about that,” Ava mumbled, her face was bright red as was Ray’s and it only caused Nora and Sara to tease the two of them. 

“Ray relax, it was just a bra you’ve seen a bra before,” Nora said with a smirk on her face. 

“Mommy, we’re going to the zoo!” Riley exclaimed as she tugged on Ava’s hand, she quickly noticed the ring sitting on her finger and brought Ava’s hand closer to her face so she could see it properly. “Do you like it, mommy?”

“I love it, wait have you already seen this before?” Ava asked curiously.

“Yep, me and mama got it the other day,” Riley said still staring at the ring. 

“See Sara I told you she would say yes,” Nora said when she walked into the room and noticed Riley staring at Ava’s hand. 

“Wait, did everyone know about this but me?” Ava asked with a frown on her face. Riley let go of Ava’s hand and wandered over to the kitchen table and rummaged through her backpack. 

“Baby it’s not much of a surprise if you know about it,” Sara moved to Ava’s side and wrapped an arm around her waist. 

“Ray, why don’t you go and put her in the car?” Nora suggested and he nodded his head. 

He gave the newly engaged couple a hug and congratulated the two of them before scooping Riley up into his arms and taking her out to the car. Nora wasn’t a big hugger but she quickly gave the two of them a tight hug and congratulated them, too. 

“We should be back by five, we’re taking her for food too,” Nora grabbed her things and headed towards the door. “Oh and we’re using your car Ava,” Nora yelled closing the front door behind her before the Director could protest. 

“What do you say we go back to bed, my love?” Sara questioned with a smirk on her face, Ava knew exactly what that smirk meant and there was no way that she could say no to it. 

Sara dragged the taller blonde upstairs to their bedroom. The second the door was closed behind them Ava found herself pinned up against it with her arms pinned up against it by the side of her head. Sara started to press soft kisses along Ava’s jawline before moving down to her neck, where she found Ava’s sensitive spot immediately and bit down on it causing Ava to let out a quiet moan. Sara began sucking on the spot and Ava knew that there was going to be a mark there, probably one that was going to be very difficult to cover up. 

Sara let go of Ava’s hands and let them drop down to her side, she started to tug at the hem of Ava’s shirt while she was still paying attention to Ava’s neck. She pulled away so that she could pull it over her head, once that was off she began to place kisses all over Ava’s chest, biting and sucking on places that she knew Ava loved. Once she was satisfied with her work on Ava’s chest she pulled away and gently pushed Ava towards the bed; where they spent the rest of their day, only leaving it to shower before Nora and Ray dropped Riley back home. 

By the time the couple brought Riley back home, Sara and Ava were cuddled up on the couch, both of them asleep with some baking show playing on the TV screen in front of them. When Nora realized that they were sleeping she gently nudged Riley’s arms and motioned for her to be quiet before the two of them crept up behind the couch to scare the two women. 

Ava jumped out of Sara’s embrace, hitting her head against Sara’s chin in the process. Riley broke out into a fit of laughter when she realized that they had successfully scared her parents. The small girl ran around to the front of the couch and jumped onto the empty spot next to Sara.

“Come here you little monkey,” Sara pulled Riley into her lap and peppered her face with kisses, causing her to break out into another fit of giggles. 

“Thank you for having her today and last night, she didn’t cause any trouble did she?” Ava asked as the couple sat down on the opposite couch. 

“She was fine, the second her head hit the pillow last night she was out like a light,” Nora said, glancing over at the small girl who was being tightly hugged by Sara. “We had fun at the zoo didn’t we Riles?”

“Mhmm, it was so much fun, I saw a lion! A real-life Simba mommy!” Riley exclaimed her eyes wide with excitement. 

“Wow that is exciting, did you hear it roar?” Ava asked, her tone matching Riley’s excitement. 

“No, they were all sleepy,” Riley said, a slight frown working its way onto her face. 

“We'll have to go back another time when they’re awake,” Ava said and Riley’s eyes lit up with excitement once again. She quickly nodded her head before snuggling back into Sara’s embrace. 

Ray headed back to the Waverider to work on something in the lab. Nora and Ava fell into a conversation about the wedding with Riley joining the conversation every now and then to express her excitement about being able to wear a pretty dress. They were so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn’t notice that the Captain had grown very quiet, which was completely unlike her. 

Ava turned to look at her fiancée with a confused look on her face because she asked her a question and was met with silence. 

“Babe? Is everything okay?” Ava asked the confusion on her face was quickly replaced with concern. 

Sara shook her head slightly as if to shake the thoughts out of her head. She nodded slowly before lifting Riley off of her lap and gently placing her in the empty space on the couch between herself and Ava. 

“Yeah um, I just, I have to go somewhere,” Sara paused for a moment as she stood up from the couch. Her eyes looked dull and a little sad, which is the opposite of how she should look and feel after getting engaged the day before. Her eyes should be the bright blue that they usually are, they should be full of happiness. 

She glanced around the room, looking lost. Sara quickly walked out of the living room and slipped on the sneakers that were by the door. She grabbed a coat, not caring whether it was even her own or whether it was Ava’s, she put the coat on and rushed past the living room to grab a time courier from upstairs. 

“Sara, what’s going on?” Ava questioned from the doorway, scaring Sara a little as she rummaged through Ava’s bedside table drawer. 

“I just, I have to go somewhere, I need a courier,” Sara said. 

Ava slowly moved closer to her and pulled Sara away from the bedside table and towards the bed. 

“You aren’t going to find one in there, I made sure to keep them in places Riley can’t reach,” Ava explained as she grabbed a box from the top shelf in her closet. She took her time courier out of the box and placed it on the bed next to Sara. 

“You don’t need to tell me what’s going on with you if you don’t want to talk about it, but please text or call me when you get wherever you’re going so I know that you’re safe,” Ava pressed a kiss to Sara’s forehead and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman for a few seconds before pulling away from her. 

“I love you,” Sara said as she watched Ava leave their bedroom. 

She punched in some coordinates before a portal opened, to a cemetery in Star City, in the middle of their bedroom. She stepped through the portal onto an empty patch of grass just outside of the cemetery. The portal closed behind her, she sent a quick text to Ava to let her know she was safe and she made her way through the gate that led into the cemetery, she walked down the path that she had walked down so many times before. 

She reached the two headstones and sat down on the grass in front of them. The second she sat down she allowed the tears to fall from her eyes. 

“You two should be here,” Sara was almost sobbing now. She pulled the coat sleeve over her hand and wiped her face with it once she managed to calm down. 

“I’m getting married to the love of my life and you aren’t here to walk me down the aisle,” Sara paused for a moment as she looked at her father's headstone. “And you, Laurel you should be here to help us plan everything, you should be here planning my bachelorette party. God, you didn’t even get to meet her.”

Sara stayed in the cemetery for a while after that, telling her dad and sister all about how she proposed to Ava, she told them about Riley and how she was doing in school, her favorite games to play at the moment and everything else that was happening in her life. After that, she just sat in silence staring at the headstones in front of her, before she finally stood up and opened a portal back to the apartment. 

By the time she arrived back, the apartment was in complete darkness. She navigated her way upstairs in complete darkness, stopping once she reached Riley’s bedroom door. She opened it slowly, careful not to wake the small girl up, she quietly made her way over to the side of her bed and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. 

“Mama?” Riley questioned, her voice thick with tiredness.

“It’s okay baby go back to sleep,” Sara said, she sat down on the bed next to Riley and ran her fingers through her soft blonde locks, Riley leaned her head into the touch and closed her eyes again. “Goodnight Ry Ry, love you,” Sara pressed another kiss to her forehead before leaving the room and heading towards hers and Ava’s room. 

The room was lit up with the soft glow of the lamp on Sara’s bedside table, that Ava had left on for her. When she walked further into the room she noticed that Ava had left some pajamas out on her side of the bed for her, and on top of the pajamas was Sara’s stuffed shark from her childhood. She picked it up and looked at it curiously for a few seconds before hugging it against her chest tightly. The last time she had seen the stuffed shark, it was shoved into a random box in her room on the waverider. She held it like that for a few moments before dropping it down onto the bed and changing into her pajamas and crawling into bed next to Ava.

“Are you okay?” Ava questioned when she felt Sara cuddle up into her side. 

“Mhmm, sorry for running out on you, I just had to clear my head,” Sara explained.

“It’s okay, I just worry about you.”

“I went to my dad and Laurel’s grave, hearing you and Nora talk about the wedding made me realize that they aren’t going to be there, they aren’t going to be there for one of the most important days of my life,” Sara said quickly as she tried to keep the tears at bay. 

“I’m sorry babe, I wish there was some way to bring them back to you.” 

“Me too, they would have adored you and Riley,” Sara mumbled against Ava’s neck.

***

The next day they decided to tell the rest of the Legends about their engagement. 

“This better be good, I was in the middle of a game,” Zari grumbled as she entered the bridge with a bag of chips in her hand. “Wait neither of you is dying right? This all feels a little serious,” Zari waved her hand out in front of her as she spoke, only turning her attention back to the bag of chips when the two of them shook their heads. 

“Where’s the little monster today?” John questioned, referring to Riley, as he and Gary entered the bridge.

“She’s at school,” Sara responded with an unimpressed look on her face at his nickname for her daughter.

Everyone finally appeared on the bridge meaning they could finally tell everyone their exciting news.

“So what are doing here?” Charlie questioned.

“We have something to tell you guys,” Sara paused as she glanced over at Ava with an excited smile on her face, “we’re engaged.” 

Sara laced her fingers with Ava’s before they were engulfed in a group hug, even John joined in; but, that’s only because Gary dragged him into it. 

“This is so exciting,” Gary said with a smile on his face reaching from ear to ear. 

Luckily there was nothing wrong with the timeline so they spent the rest of the day celebrating their engagement, with champagne and a lot of food. As the Legends were wrapped up in a conversation about something that Sara didn’t care enough about to pay attention, she sat back in her chair and looked around at each of them. A warmth spreading across her chest when she saw how happy they all were. When she looked at Ava, her heart skipped a beat. She was looked so happy talking to Nora, her eyes were bright and full of joy.

Even though she didn’t have any blood relatives left that could go to her wedding, the ceremony was still going to be filled with family, and her heart swelled with happiness at the thought of that.


	9. Nine

Thanksgiving came around very quickly and Ava was trying to get all of her paperwork finished so that she could spend the holiday completely uninterrupted with Sara and Riley. She finished up with work late the night before Thanksgiving and by the time she got home, Sara and Riley were asleep on the couch. Ava’s heart swelled with happiness at the sight of the two of them cuddled up with one another, Sara was laid out on the couch with Riley sprawled out on top of her with her head resting on Sara’s shoulder. 

Ava walked around to the front of the couch as quiet as possible, careful not to wake the two of them up. But, by the time she was in front of the couch Sara was looking up at her with tired blue eyes. 

“Hey, did you get everything finished?” Sara whispered and Ava nodded her head in response to the question, before leaning down and greeting her fiancée with a chaste kiss. 

“Do you want me to put her to bed?” Ava questioned, referring to the sleeping five-year-old on Sara’s chest. 

“Yeah, I tried to put her to bed earlier but she refused to go to sleep until you got home, I left her in her room to go and change into some comfy clothes and found her sitting by the front door waiting for you,” Sara said. 

Ava gently lifted Riley off of Sara’s chest and carried her in her arms upstairs to her bedroom. She managed to do it without waking her up until she placed her down in her bed. Ava was about to tuck her in and go back downstairs when she saw Riley glancing around the room with tired eyes. 

“Mommy?” She questioned in a small voice. 

“Yeah?”

“You’re back, you missed dinner,” Riley said with a sad pout on her face. Ava sat down on the edge of Riley’s bed and tucked a stray strand of hair behind the small girl's ear. 

“I know, I’m sorry honey. I had to work so that we could spend Thanksgiving together,” Ava explained and usually, Riley would question everything that Ava just said but she was too tired and simply nodded her head. She cuddled her stuffed Simba to her chest and quickly fell back to sleep. Ava kissed her forehead before standing up from the bed and leaving the room. 

“Your dinner is on the side, you might need to reheat it though,” Sara called out from her spot on the couch, Ava nodded her head and went into the kitchen to heat up the food. 

“This is really good, why have you never made this before?” Ava questioned before shoveling another forkful of food into her mouth.  
“Because Gideon fabricated it for us, she refused to eat until you were here so I told her we could go and have dinner with the Legends and I’ve never seen her move so fast before,” Sara chuckled at the memory. 

Since Riley came to live with them, they decided that it would probably be best if they kept her away from the waverider. However, that quickly changed within a few months of her living with them because once she was comfortable around them she kept asking if she could watch cartoons in the parlour like she did when they first met. After that, Riley loved spending time on the Waverider, she talked to Gideon a lot. 

Once Ava finished eating the two of them fell into a comfortable silence, the only noise in the room was the random tv show Sara had put on, playing in the background. 

Sara stared straight ahead of her at nothing in particular and let out a yawn.

“Are you tired?” Ava mumbled when she heard the yawn come from Sara. 

“Trying to put a 5-year-old to bed when she refuses is an exhausting job. She wouldn’t go in the bath either and even on the Waverider she wouldn’t eat much, John even tried to persuade her to eat but she was having none of it,” Sara explained, yawning halfway through speaking. 

“Let’s go to bed, I imagine tomorrow will be equally as exhausting,” Ava suggested and Sara nodded her head and followed her fiancée up to their bedroom. 

*****

The next day Ava woke up later than usual, her alarm was set to go off at 7 a.m sharp but it didn’t go off. She blindly moved her arm towards the bedside table where she eventually found her phone and brought it up to her face. She jumped out of bed the second she realized that it was almost 11 a.m. 

She didn't even bother to look around the room to check if Sara was awake, instead, she grabbed her robe from the bathroom door and threw it on before rushing downstairs. Where she was met with a pleasant surprise. Sara was standing in the middle of the kitchen looking down at something on her phone, she had a plain white apron on and the kitchen counters were covered in flour. 

“What are you doing?” Ava questioned, causing Sara to look up from her phone and at Ava. 

“We’re making cupcakes mommy,” Riley appeared from behind the kitchen island, with a proud look on her face as she pointed towards the oven. “We also made a pumky pie,” Riley struggled with the word, ‘pumpkin’ causing Ava to look down at the girl with a soft smile on her face. 

“A pumpkin pie huh? Can I see it?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head excitedly before dragging Ava over to the counter near the oven where the pie was cooling down. 

“Baby do you want to come and mix this?” Sara questioned and Riley forgot all about showing the pumpkin pie to Ava and ran over to Sara. The captain lifted her up so that she was sitting on the countertop, to make it easier for her to reach the mixing bowl.

“What is all this for?” Ava questioned as she made her way over to Sara and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman’s waist. Sara leaned into her embrace and rested her head on Ava’s chest. Most people who meet Sara would never guess that she is the kind of person that likes to be hugged, but wrapped up in Ava’s arms is Sara’s favorite place to be. It’s the place that she feels safe and loved, which is something that she hasn’t felt a lot of during the majority of her adulthood. So, whenever Ava wraps her arms around her she practically melts into the embrace. 

“Thanksgiving, duh,” Sara mumbled into Ava’s chest. “We wanted to surprise you, you’ve been stressed out with work lately and this was only going to stress you out even more. So, I turned your alarm off this morning and Riley and I decided to make the dessert for today for you.” 

“Oh, so that’s why I slept until almost eleven,” Ava thought out loud. The two of them were wrapped up in one another’s embrace, they were only pulled out of their little bubble when they heard a loud bang against the counter followed by a small ‘uh oh.’

“What’s wrong ba-” Sara paused mid-word when she saw the contents of the bowl spilled all over the counter and all down the front of Riley. 

“Oh no, come here Riles,” Ava quickly moves over to Riley’s side and wiped most of the mess off of her clothes before lifting her down from the countertop.

“You go and bath her and I’ll clean this up and finish everything off,” Sara said ushering Ava out of the kitchen because she knew the taller blonde would only get stressed out if she stayed in the room. 

Once everything was cleaned and finished cooking the three of them began getting dressed and ready for the busy day ahead of them. Riley was wearing some black leggings and an orange sweater with a cartoon turkey on the front of it, with an orange beanie to match. Ava was wearing black tailored trousers with a black and white striped sweater and a long gray coat to go over it, and Sara wore black skinny jeans with a black sleeveless shirt and black combat boots. 

They made it over to the Heywoods home in no time at all because there was no traffic on the roads. When they arrived at the door Riley suddenly got very shy, she held onto Ava’s hand tightly and hid slightly behind her legs, which was something that she has done from the very first time that they met. 

“Ava! Sara! Come in, it’s cold out there,” Dot greeted them happily. Greeting the two women with a tight hug, “you must be Riley, how are you, sweetie?” Dot asked and Riley just his further behind Ava. 

“It’s okay honey, you’re okay, nobody’s going to hurt you, do you want me to pick you up?” Ava questioned and Riley nodded her head and the second she was in Ava’s arms she tucked her face into the crook of Ava’s neck and held onto her tightly. “She’s a little shy,” Ava said with a soft smile. 

“The poor little thing, Nathaniel has told me all about her. It’s a lovely thing that you’re doing for her,” Dot paused looking at the two blonde women in front of her with a soft smile on her face. “Anyway, come and sit down make yourselves comfortable, Nathaniel and his friends are in the living room.” Dot said Ava took Riley into the living room and Sara followed Dot into the kitchen to figure out where to leave the desserts.

“Ava, hey,” Nate said from his spot on the couch, “is she okay?” He questioned, his eyes full of concern. Riley usually ran into the room and launched herself into his arms but today she didn’t even lift her head off of Ava’s shoulder at the sound of his voice. 

“I think she’s a little overwhelmed with meeting new people,” Ava explained, she sat down next to Nate on the couch, with Riley still clinging onto her. 

“Riley, do you want to draw or we can play Mario kart?” Nate suggested hoping that it would bring Riley out of her shell a little but the small girl just shook her head and buried herself further into Ava’s embrace; if that was even possible. 

“Ry Ry, do you want a drink?” Sara asked when she appeared in the living room. The small girl finally lifted her head off of Ava’s shoulder at the sound of her mom's voice. She looked towards the doorway where Sara was standing and shook her head. Sara could tell that she was having a hard time being around so many new people, because Nate’s family weren’t exactly quiet people and that only made it worse for the small girl. 

“I know it’s scary being around new people baby, but it’s okay mommy and I are going to be here with you the whole time. We’re going to have so much fun okay? Even Auntie Nora and Uncle Ray are here,” Sara said as she took the orange beanie off of Riley’s head when she started to look a little warm, she carded her fingers through the soft blonde locks to smooth them down and to help calm Riley down. 

“Can we play Mario?” Riley asked quietly and Nate nodded his head before moving from the couch to set it up. He did it fairly quickly and handed the remote to Ava who set the game up for Riley before handing it to the small girl when the race was about to begin. 

She was in first place for the first lap of the race, but she got distracted by someone overtaking her and ended up going the wrong way on the track. 

“I won mommy I won!” She exclaimed excitedly and Ava quickly joined in on the small girl's excitement. 

“Can you grab her? I’m gonna go and see if Dot needs any help,” Ava said and Sara lifted Riley from Ava’s lap and placed her down on her own lap. When Ava went into the kitchen she was met with Nora leaning against the counter with a glass of rosé in her hand and Ray by her side. Dot was checking on something in the oven and just as she entered the kitchen Nate’s grandma did too. She quickly asked Dot if she needed any help but the woman just told her to go and relax in the living room with the others. But, before she could do that Nate’s grandma started talking to her.

“Ava! It’s lovely to see you again, how have you been?” Nate’s grandma questioned before pulling her into a hug. 

“I’ve been great thank you, my fiancée and I are fostering a little girl, but we're hoping to adopt her,” Ava said with a smile on her face at the thought of her and Sara adopting Riley and officially making her their daughter. 

“The fiancée thing is new too, you weren’t engaged last year were you?” She questioned and Ava shook her head. 

“No we only got engaged about two weeks ago, she took me to a private beach on my birthday, she had decorated it with fairy lights and we had a picnic and then she proposed,” Ava couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face at the memory of their engagement. 

“That’s wonderful, I’m happy for you,” Nate’s grandma pulled Ava into another hug. The older woman told Ava all about what she had been doing for the past year before she said something about needing some peace and quiet and leaving the kitchen. 

“Okay, Nate told me to stay away from her but she seems lovely,” Nora said with a raised brow. 

“She is,” Ava agreed with her best friend. “Wait what are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to Rays moms house for dinner?” Ava questioned. 

“We were going to but his mom's boyfriend surprised her with a week away and she didn’t know about it until last night, so Dot invited us here,” Nora explained. “How’s Riley doing? Sara said that she was a little upset when you guys got here?” Nora asked the concern for her niece was evident in her voice. 

“She’s okay, she was nervous about meeting new people, I think it was all a little overwhelming for her, but Sara talked to her and she seems okay now,” Ava said, she poured herself a glass of wine and stood opposite Nora. 

“Poor baby, Sara always seems to know how to calm her down it’s like magic sometimes all she has to say is like two words and Riley is okay again,” Nora chuckled. 

“Yeah, you know sometimes I look at the two of them together and it’s scary how alike they are. I know she’s not mine and Sara’s biologically but she is literally just a mini Sara.”

“She’s also a mini you at times, I’ve never seen a five-year-old be so organized. When she stayed with us on the Waverider she made her bed no other kid but yours would do that,” Nora paused to take a sip of her wine. “She’s also so much like you when it comes to rules, she doesn’t like to do things she isn’t supposed to and she prefers to eat fruit over candy, what kind of five-year-old does that?” Nora chuckled earning a playful glare from her best friend. 

“Well can you blame her? Fruit is so much better than candy.”

“Why am I friends with someone who chooses fruit over candy, I’m sorry I don’t think I can carry on with this friendship,” Nora said dramatically causing Ava to roll her eyes at the witch. 

“It’s healthy and it tastes good,” Ava paused for a moment when Nora just looked at her with an unimpressed expression. “So you’re telling me you would rather eat candy over something as tasty as pineapple?” 

“Ohh now I get why you like fruit so much, I bet you love it when Sara eats it too,” Nora said with a smirk on her face. Ava looked at the brunette with a clueless look on her face and it only made Nora smirk more, “never mind.”

Luckily the conversation was cut short because Riley wandered into the kitchen. 

“Mommy, when is dinner I’m hungry,” Riley whined.

“Soon honey, do you want a breadstick?” Ava questioned and grabbed one from the bowl in the middle of the kitchen island and handed it to the small girl. 

“Thank you,” Riley said softly before practically devouring the breadstick. Once she had finished eating it, she moved closer to Ava and clung to Ava’s thigh like a little Koala bear. 

“Is everything okay sweetie?” Ava asked looking down at her daughter with concern in her eyes.

“Mhmm I just like to hug you,” Riley said and Ava wasted no time in prying the small girl off of her leg and lifted her up into her arms so she was resting on Ava’s hip. 

“I like to hug you too princess,” Ava said before peppering kisses all over Riley’s face. 

The small girl let out a soft giggle before saying, “you’re so silly mommy.”

Nora watched the two of them interact with a soft smile on her face, she loved seeing her best friend so relaxed and not stressed about work. She was brought out of her thoughts at the sound of Ava saying her name, she shook her head slightly and let out a quiet ‘huh?’

“We’re going to sit in the living room with the others, are you coming?” Ava questioned and Nora just nodded her head before following the two of them into the living room. There wasn’t much room left but Ava managed to squeeze in between Sara and the arm of the couch, leaving Nora no other choice but to sit on Ray’s lap. 

“Where did you go?” Nora asked.

“Nate needed help getting out of a conversation with his uncle,” Ray explained.

They all sat in the living room for the next couple of hours watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and when that was over the channel was switched over to the football. 

“Dinner is ready,” Dot called from the kitchen, causing everyone to jump up from the couch and to the dining room table. Once everyone had food on their plates, Dot said, “why don’t we go around and say something that we’re thankful for.”

“Only one thing this year Ava, I would like to eat this food while it’s still hot,” Nate’s grandma joked, referring to last year’s thanksgiving where she listed a bunch of different things that she was ‘thankful’ for to give Nate a little more time at the Bureau. Her comment earned some laughs from the people who were there last year and confused looks from everyone else. 

They went around the table each person saying something that they’re thankful for but when it came to Riley’s turn she got a little confused. “Mama, what should I say?” Riley leaned into Sara’s side and whispered her question. 

“Just say something that you like baby,” Sara said and Riley nodded her head.

“I’m thankful for,” she paused for a second with her face scrunched up as she thought about what to say. “My mommy and mama.”

Ava’s eyes filled with happy tears at hearing what Riley just said, Nora noticed the tears in her eyes and gently nudged her with her elbow. “You’re getting soft on us,” Nora said and Ava just cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter in her seat. 

“I can’t help it, she melts my heart,” Ava said and everyone had finished saying something that they were thankful for meaning that they could start eating. 

Everyone had finished eating, and most of them were sitting in the living room while Dot, Nate and his grandma were cleaning up in the kitchen. Ava and Sara both offered to help clean up but they were both banished to the living room, because they’re guests. 

“I think I might have to undo my belt,” Sara groaned as she moved slightly so that her head was resting on Ava’s shoulder. “I don’t think im gonna be able to move Aves you’re going to have to carry me home,” Sara said dramatically causing Ava to raise an eyebrow at her fiance. But before she could respond to her, Ray handed Sara her drink as well as handing one to Ava. 

As the night progressed, most of Nate’s family had left. Leaving only Ava, Sara, Riley, Nora, Ray and Nate in the living room after Dot and Nate’s grandma went into the other room to watch some tv show. Sara, Nora and Nate also gradually got drunk as the night went on, it was barely 8 p.m. and Sara was already slurring her words as well as getting very handsy with Ava; the latter having to swat Sara’s hands from roaming her body.

“Why is mama acting funny?” Riley questioned as she wandered over to Ava after waking up from her nap on the large chair in the corner of the room. 

“I’m acting funny? I think you’re acting funny Ry Ry,” Sara slurred and Riley just frowned at her mom before climbing onto Ava’s lap. The small girl was a little wary of Sara in this situation, because that’s how her uncle used to talk, he used to slur his words and when he did that it never ended well for Riley. 

She tried to bury herself into Ava’s chest, to try and avoid Sara but the Captain moved her hand so it was resting on Ava’s thigh and she leaned into Ava’s side with the taller blonde wrapping her arm around her fiance's shoulder, pulling her impossibly closer. But, what they didn’t notice was Riley slowly backing away from Sara causing her to fall off of Ava’s lap and onto the couch. She was about to curl into Ava’s left side but then she heard Nora talking the same way that Sara was, making her more scared. 

She hopped off of the couch, knocking a glass over in the process. The smashed glass was enough to sober Sara up slightly, because she went into protective mama mode when Riley was about to quickly walk past it but Sara stuck her arm out in front of her stopping Riley from walking past it to make sure she didn’t cut herself. But, the quick movement scared Riley and she backed away from her mom immediately, not looking where she was going she backed into the coffee table causing another glass to fall to the floor and shatter.  
“Come here baby,” Sara’s words were still slurring slightly, she reached out to pick Riley up so that she was out of the way of the glass. Riley was still scared from the memories of her uncle when he was drunk so she dropped to the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest, making herself into a little ball. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, I’ll clean it up mama, I’m sorry,” Riley was on the verge of tears, “don’t hurt me,” she said in a voice that sounded absolutely terrified and that broke both Sara and Ava’s hearts into a million little pieces. 

Sara felt herself sober up completely at the sound of distress in her daughter's voice, she crouched down next to her, so did Ava. 

“Baby, you’re safe, it’s us. Nobody’s gonna hurt you Ry I promise,” Sara said, but Riley kept her head buried in her knees. 

“Riley can you look at me,” Ava said trying to coax Riley out of her little bubble so that she could help her calm down. “Come on Riles, it’s just us. Do you want to go into another room?” Ava questioned and Riley nodded her head, Ava stood up slowly and held her hand out for Riley. The small girl stood up and grabbed onto Ava’s hand. 

“Can you carry me?” Riley asked, her voice still sounding small and sad. Ava scooped the small girl up into her arms and they started to walk out of the room, with Sara following close behind them. “No only mommy,” Riley mumbled and Sara nodded her head before going back to the couch. 

Ava took Riley into an empty room in the house and sat her down on a chair before sitting down next to her. 

“What happened back there sweetie?” Ava asked softly and Riley just started to cry. She immediately pulled the small girl onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her as she ran her fingers up and down her back to help calm her down. “It’s okay, you’re safe, I’ve got you,” Ava mumbled into the top of her head, but the tears didn’t stop. In fact they got worse, the small girl was sobbing into her chest and Ava didn’t know what to do. It was times like this she needed Sara because she would know exactly what to do and say. After a little while the tears stopped and Riley finally calmed down. 

“What’s wrong honey? Come on use your words Riles, I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on,” Ava said softly while she was still drawing calming patterns on her back with her fingers. 

“I thought mama was going to hurt me, like my uncle did, he used to talk like mama was talking and I got scared,” Riley said, hiccuping a few times. 

“Oh Riles, mama would never ever hurt you, I know it’s scary to think about what your uncle did but I promise you, she is never ever going to hurt you she loves you so so much,” Ava explained and Riley nodded her head against her chest. 

“I know I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get scared,” Riley mumbled. 

“Hey no no, you have nothing to be sorry for okay?” Ava paused waiting for Riley to nod her head. “You can’t help how you feel honey, if you’re scared then you’re scared, nobody should make you feel bad for feeling a certain way, and if they do you tell me or mama and we will sort them out,” Ava said smiling at the last part and Riley just nodded her head before leaning back into Ava’s embrace. “Do you want to speak to mama yet or are you okay with just us two?” Ava questioned. 

“Mama.”

Ava pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Sara to tell her to join them in the room at the back of the house and the Captain appeared a few seconds later. 

“Hey baby, how are you feeling?” Sara asked as she crouched down in front of the two of them. 

“Do you want to tell her or do you want me to?” Ava questioned. 

“You.”

Ava told Sara what Riley had said to her and by the time Ava had finished speaking the smaller blonde woman broke down into tears. She was usually very good at keeping her emotions at bay but hearing that she was the reason that her own daughter was so scared crushed her. She was still knelt down on the floor in front of them with her face buried into Ava’s stomach. Riley quickly jumped off of Ava’s lap and wrapped her arms around Sara, while Ava ran her fingers through Sara’s hair. 

“She’s okay, it’s not your fault she just had bad memories of her uncle brought up because of the alcohol, she’s fine babe,” Ava leaned down and whispered in her ear. 

“I scared her Ava, I scared our daughter so much that she didn’t even want me in the same room as her,” Sara said once she managed to get her tears under control. Riley just hugged Sara a little tighter when she stopped crying. 

“She was scared yeah but she knows that you would never hurt her, I think the memory of her uncle being drunk just took over her mind and removed any rational thoughts,” Ava tried to explain to Sara. 

“She looked so scared Aves, I’m a monster,” Sara said and Riley let out a soft laugh, not understanding the seriousness of the conversation. 

“You aren’t a monster silly, you’re my mama,” Riley said, her voice sounding like her usual happy self. 

“Come here you,” Sara moved so that Riley could sit on her lap. The small girl immediately cuddled into Sara’s embrace and Ava moved from the chair to sit down behind Sara. The Captain leaned back against Ava’s chest and the taller blonde wrapped her arms around her two girls. 

“Do you wanna go home?” Ava questioned, Sara nodded her head and Riley just let out a yawn in response. 

The three of them said their goodbyes, Ava promised Dot that she would replace the broken glasses, even though the older woman insisted that she didn’t need to. Once they left the Heywood residence they headed home and even though it was only just 10 p.m. Sara and Ava climbed into bed after putting Riley to bed, and the Director spent the rest of the night reassuring her fiancée that Riley was okay and that it wasn’t her fault.


	10. Ten

After Thanksgiving, everything in their lives got a little hectic. Christmas was coming up as well as Sara’s birthday and Ava wanted to make sure the day was perfect because it was their first Christmas as a family but she also wanted to make sure that Sara didn’t feel as though her birthday was being overlooked.

It also took Sara a few weeks to finally forgive herself for what happened with Riley at Thanksgiving. Ava and even Riley reassured her that she did nothing wrong and that she of all people should understand that sometimes past experiences creep up on you at the most unexpected times. 

Once Sara forgave herself and was able to understand why Riley reacted the way she did, she also allowed herself to focus on the holidays. On the first day of December Ava insisted that they had to go out and get a Christmas tree. 

“We can go to the store tomorrow when Riley finishes school to get a tree,” Sara said over her shoulder as she was loading the dishwasher.

“We are not getting a tree from the store Sara, we have to go to an actual forest and pick one out,” Ava said from her seat at the table. 

Sara quickly finished loading the dishwasher and turned to look at her fiancée with furrowed eyebrows once she closed the door. “You want to go and cut a tree down?”

“No, there’s a place near the forest on the other side of the city where they sell Christmas trees that have already been cut down,” Ava explained. “They also have reindeer that you can feed and there’s a cafe, I don’t know I thought it would be fun.”

“Yeah, of course, that sounds good, we can go at the weekend if you want?” Sara suggested and Ava agreed immediately. 

“Why are we getting a tree?” Riley asked from her seat next to Ava with a confused look on her face. 

That’s when it hit them that she has probably never celebrated Christmas, she might have with her parents but she wouldn’t remember that because she was so young; and there was no way that her uncle would have celebrated it with her. Ava and Sara shared a look before explaining what happened at Christmas time to her. 

“We need to get a tree and decorate it so that Santa has somewhere to put the gifts, and to make our apartment feel festive,” Sara said and Riley nodded her head before her expression turned to confusion once again. 

“Who is Santa?” 

“Santa is a man who wears a lot of red and he flies around the world on Christmas Eve delivering gifts to all the children that have been good that year, he eats a lot too because most kids leave him some milk and cookies for him to eat while he’s going around the world,” Sara explained and the confusion on Riley’s face quickly turned into excitement. 

“Will he come here?” 

“Absolutely, because you’re probably right at the top of his good list,” Ava said and Riley was practically buzzing with excitement at that point. “But you have to write him a letter to tell him what gifts you want or else he won’t know what to bring to you,” Ava explained and Riley jumped off of her chair and ran out of the room. Seconds later she came back in holding a notebook and some crayons. 

“We have to write a letter to him, mommy!” Riley said excitedly. She settled down next to Ava and she helped Riley write out her letter, telling her how to spell certain words and once it was finished Sara found an envelope to put it in and the next day they went and posted it to the North Pole. 

The rest of the week flew by and on Saturday morning the three of them were bundled up in thick coats, and Riley was wearing her favorite orange beanie so that they could go and pick out a tree. 

There were so many different trees to choose from, there were the tiny ones that Riley didn’t particularly like because she wanted a huge one like in the movies. But, there was no way that one that tall would fit in the apartment so they eventually decided on a 6 foot one. Once they had chosen the tree the guy working there put it to one side for them whilst they went to look at the reindeer. 

“Do you think Santa will be angry if I changed the gifts I wanted in my letter?” Riley asked as she looked up at Sara. 

“Well it depends what you want to change it to,” Sara said, she was a little worried that Riley wouldn’t want any of the things that she had talked about earlier in the week; because Ava had already bought most of the things. She went out on her lunch break the day after Riley wrote the letter and bought almost all of the gifts that she wanted to make sure that they had everything in case it went out of stock. 

“I want a reindeer,” Riley said. 

“Baby I don’t think we can have a reindeer,” Sara chuckled, “where would it live?” 

“With us, duh, I would let it sleep in my room and I would take it out for a walk and cuddle with it and I would feed it, probably my vegetables because I don’t like them,” Riley said and Sara just laughed. 

“You might have to rethink that one Ry, I don’t think Santa can fit a Reindeer in his sleigh with all of the other gifts,” Sara explained and Riley was now looking up at her with a sad pout. “How about a toy reindeer? He might be able to bring one of those for you,” Sara suggested and Riley’s face lit up at that. 

“Look there’s a baby one!” Riley squeaked with excitement as she pointed towards the smaller reindeer that was standing behind the bigger two. “It’s like us mama, I’m the little one, that one is you,” Riley pointed to the older reindeer that was standing closest to them. “And that one is mommy,” Riley pointed to the slightly larger reindeer that was standing by the baby one. 

“What’s me?” Ava asked as she came up behind the two of them. She was holding two coffees in her hand and a juice pouch under her arm for Riley. She handed the drinks to the two of them and they moved to sit down on the picnic bench near the reindeers. 

“That reindeer is you, mommy,” Riley pointed to the slightly bigger reindeer again and Ava just looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow. 

“Thank you, I think?” 

“You’re welcome,” Riley said before forgetting about the conversation and turning her attention to the drink in her hand. 

They finished their drinks and fed the Reindeers before heading home. Once they had decided where to put the tree they brought out the decorations they had bought today as well as some of the ones that Ava already had and began decorating the tree. 

“Do you wanna put the star on top baby?” Sara asked once the tree was finished. Riley nodded her head and Ava handed the star over to her before lifting her up so that she could reach the top of the tree. Sara quickly moved out of the way and to the other side of the room where she pulled out her phone and recorded the whole thing so that they had something to remember the day by. Riley places the star on top of the tree and looked over at Sara with a huge grin on her face as Ava placed her safely on the ground. 

“Can we have hot chocolate now?” Riley asked looking between Sara and Ava with big round eyes, that she knew the two women found difficult to say no to. 

“Yeah, I think we deserve some after that, decorating a tree is stressful,” Sara said and Riley shot off into the kitchen. 

“It wouldn’t be as stressful if you put things where I told you to put them,” Ava muttered under her breath but Sara heard her anyway and just rolled her eyes in response. 

Ava made hot chocolate for the three of them, topping each of them off with cream and tiny marshmallows; which Riley snuck a handful of when Sara and Ava were busy bickering over the decorating of the tree. 

“Careful pumpkin it’s still hot so we have to let it cool down before you drink it okay?” Ava said and Riley nodded her head before getting comfortable on the couch. Sara and Ava sat on either side of her and the three of them snuggled up with blankets covering them, the only things lighting up the room were the Christmas lights and the tv. 

“That one looks good, I’ve never seen that before,” Sara said, they were scrolling through Netflix trying to find a Christmas movie for them to watch. 

“Arthur Christmas,” Ava read out loud before quickly scanning her eyes over the description of the movie. The movie sounded good and it was aimed at children so Riley would probably enjoy it. Sara pressed play on the movie and the three of them snuggled up even closer so that they were warmer, despite having the heating on as well as the multiple blankets they had covering them. 

Halfway through the movie, Riley had fallen asleep not long after finishing her hot chocolate. She leaned into Ava’s side and her small hand had Ava’s shirt balled up in her fist. 

“I kind of expected the hot chocolate to make her hyper not put her to sleep,” Sara chuckled when she heard soft snoring sounds coming from the small girl. 

“She was up pretty early this morning and we didn’t have time to put her down for a nap this afternoon, that’s probably why it made her tired,” Ava thought out loud, and Sara just nodded her head. 

“Do you wanna carry on watching this movie now that she’s asleep or should we choose another one?” Sara questioned but she already knew the answer. Every time she looked over at the Director while the movie was playing her eyes hadn’t left the screen, and if she was being honest she looked like she was enjoying it more than Riley. Ava just turned to her with an embarrassed smile on her face, she didn’t even need to say anything and Sara just continued the movie. 

The movie had finished and Sara was about to take Riley up to bed but before she even had the chance to move from her seat on the couch her phone started ringing. She let out a frustrated sigh when she saw the caller ID. 

“Gideon, what’s up?” 

“Captain there has been a disruption in the timeline,” Gideon said through the phone. 

“I’ll be right there,” Sara sighed before hanging up. “Come on let’s get you to bed Ry Ry,” Sara whispered, she moved to lift Riley up from the couch but Ava beat her to it. 

“Babe, go it’s obviously important, it’s okay she’s already asleep I’m sure she won’t mind if you don’t read her a story tonight,” Ava said. 

Sara nodded her head in agreement, she moved to press a kiss to Riley’s forehead before leaning up and gently pulling Ava’s head down so that their lips met in a soft kiss. “Call me if you need anything hopefully, I won’t be gone for too long.”

Sara practically ran up the stairs taking them two at a time, she quickly changed into the clothes that she had left on the edge of the bed before opening a portal onto the Waverider. The whole team was already gathered around the console on the bridge and the second Ray noticed her a huge grin worked its way onto his face. 

“Alright, Gideon what’s disrupting the timeline today?” Sara questioned as she joined the team. 

“Your sister actually,” Gideon said before putting the information that she had already gathered onto the screen. “The night she was killed has been altered, Mr. Queen convinced Laurel to take the DA job earlier meaning that instead of joining team Arrow at the Iron Heights riot she was at home working on a case,” Gideon explained and Sara was beginning to grow slightly annoyed. 

All she wanted to do was spend the night with her fiancée and their daughter watching Christmas movies. She loved her job she really did, but since fostering Riley she has gotten a taste of a normal-ish life and she kind of loves it. But she also loves traveling through time. 

Her week had already been stressful enough, they had to fix the timeline during the height of World War II, Barack Obama had somehow gotten involved in the trench fighting and the Legends had to get him out of there and back to his own time. It proved to be very difficult when three of her team members had been shot and injured badly in the process. After that, she had once again convinced herself that she was a terrible Captain for letting her team get hurt, luckily Ava was there to tell her otherwise. 

And now, on top of that terrible week, she has to fix the timeline by putting her sister back into the Iron Heights Riot, just so that she could get killed by Damien Darhk. 

Again. 

She leaned against the console and brought her hands up to her head, gently massaging her temples to try and stop the headache she could feel coming. “Okay, Gideon, plot a course for Star City 2016,” Sara said her voice sounding cold as she tried to stop her emotions from breaking through the walls that she had built around herself, in order to get through this mission. 

“Actually Captain -”

“Now Gideon,” Sara snapped cutting of the AI. 

“Sara I think you should probably listen to her,” Zari said and Gideon spoke once again. 

“The program that miss Tomaz used to save her family has found a way to save your sister. Instead of putting your sister back into the original timeline, you have to get her and bring her to this time, where she has avoided her death, which also means that your father is still alive because Laurel never died meaning that the Laurel from Earth-2 never came to your earth so you father never had to get shot to protect her” Gideon explained and before Sara even realized that she was crying she felt hot tears running down her cheeks. 

“She doesn’t have to die again and I get my dad back,” Sara whispered and Zari shook her head. 

“No she doesn’t, come on let’s go and get your sister,” Zari said, Sara quickly wipes away her tears and followed the rest of the team over to the chairs so that they could time jump. 

They arrived in Star City, 2016 and Sara was standing outside of Laurel’s apartment building, just staring up at it. She was still trying to wrap her head around this whole thing, she finally gets her sister back. Then it hit her, she was finally going to be able to introduce her to Ava and Riley. At the thought of that she took off into the building, rushing up to the 5th floor and she found herself standing outside of the door, a little hesitant to knock. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. 

Seconds later it flew open to reveal Laurel standing there in some pajama pants and a hoodie. Sara didn’t even say anything she just launched herself into her sister’s arms and clung onto her like her life depended on it. Laurel hugged back immediately and the two of them stood hugging one another in the doorway for a couple of minutes before Sara finally pulled away. 

“You’re back,” Laurel said with a soft smile on her face. 

“So are you,” Sara said without thinking earning a confused look from her sister. 

“I’m back? I never left Sara, I’ve been here the whole time,” Laurel grew even more confused. 

“Can I come in? We need to talk,” Sara said and Laurel moved out of the way to let Sara into the apartment. It was exactly how she remembered it, there were stacks of paper spread out across the coffee table and the whole place brought back memories. 

The two of them sat down on the couch facing one another and Sara began to explain what was going on before Laurel could ask any questions. 

“Remember how I told you that I was leaving Star City to travel through time to stop the world turning into chaos?”

“Yes, of course, Sara how could I forget that my own sister is a time traveler,” Laurel said, with a slightly confused look gracing her features. 

“Um- you were,” Sara paused for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts and figure out exactly what she was going to tell her sister. “You were supposed to die today, Damien Darhk was supposed to kill you, and the only way to keep you safe is to take you to 2019 with me,” Sara said without taking a breath. Laurel stayed silent for a short while, as she processed all of this new information that her sister had just told her. 

“Sara that’s crazy, I can’t just leave all of this and go with you to the future,” Laurel said as she waved her hands over the papers covering the table. 

“Yes you can, Laurel. You can’t die, please I can’t lose you again,” Sara was close to tears and Laurel could see how much this was affecting her sister. When she first turned up at her door her eyes were bright with excitement and she had a real smile on her face. Now, her eyes looked a little scared at the thought of having to lose her sister again. 

That was all Laurel needed to know that she had to do this. Not only for Sara but also for herself, because she had so many things she wanted to do with her life and she was not ready for it to end yet. 

“Okay, am I allowed to pack some things to bring with me?” Laurel questioned.

Sara’s head shot up from looking down at her lap and she looked at Laurel with wide eyes, she was clearly shocked that she was able to convince her to go with her so quickly. 

“Yeah of course, do you want me to help?” Sara asked and Laurel just nodded her head and the two women got off of the couch and headed to the bedroom to pack her clothes. 

They were done with the clothes and now they were just going around the apartment getting random things that Laurel wanted to take with her before she stopped what she was doing and turned to look at her sister. “Wait where am I going to stay?” 

Without even looking up from what she was doing Sara responded to her sister, “with us duh.”

“Who is us, exactly?” Laurel questioned and Sara finally looked up from what she was doing when she realized that Laurel didn’t know about Ava and Riley. 

“Okay, you might want to sit down for this, you have a lot to catch up on,” Sara said and they headed back into the living room and sat back down on the couch. She told Laurel how she met Ava and how they didn’t get along in the beginning, and then she told her the story of their first date and then their breakups, and how she went to Ava’s purgatory to save her, and finally their engagement.

“I can’t believe my baby sister is engaged, where’s the ring?” Laurel asked looking at the many different rings on Sara’s fingers but not seeing one on her left hand. 

“I proposed to her,” Sara chuckled, “I took her to a small private beach in California, I went earlier in the day and set up a picnic and fairy lights and then after dinner on her birthday I took her there and proposed,” Sara said and Laurel looked as though she was about to cry at the story. “Oh and I have to tell you all about Riley, you’re gonna love her,” Sara said.

“Who is Riley?”

“Mine and Ava’s daughter, although technically she isn’t our daughter yet because we aren’t allowed to adopt her until next year, she’s still our daughter no matter what the courts say,” Sara said with a small smile appearing on her face as she talked about Riley. 

“Wow you’re right I did miss a lot,” Laurel said, and Sara just nodded her head. She decided not to tell Laurel about their dad’s death because once they get Laurel to 2019, the timeline will cement and nobody will remember his death anyway because he never died. 

The two women carried on packing Laurel’s belongings up, it took them around 3 hours to finally finish everything and Sara opened a portal to her room on the Waverider so that they didn’t have to walk far with all of the boxes. 

“Do you mind staying here for a little while? I should probably go and tell Ava about all of this so she doesn’t freak out when you turn up in our apartment,” Sara chuckled. 

“Yeah, go, I’ll be fine here.”

“Okay, I won’t be long,” Sara said as she wrapped her arms around her sister bringing her into a quick hug. “Gideon take care of our guest please,” Sara said looking up at the ceiling once she pulled away from her sister. 

“What on earth was that? Do you have an Alexa in your ceiling?” Laurel questioned and before Sara could respond Gideon beat her to it. 

“Actually Miss Lance, I am Gideon, far more advanced than an Alexa.”

“Great you already pissed off my AI, don’t worry she didn’t like Ava when they first met and now they are like best friends,” Sara said, she pressed the home button on the time courier in her hand and a portal into the living room, and they could hear Ava humming Christmas songs in the kitchen. “I won’t be long, tell Gideon if you need me and I’ll be right back.”

Sara stepped through the portal and followed Ava’s voice to the kitchen, the Director was standing at the kitchen sink washing some dishes whilst humming Christmas songs. Sara snuck up behind her and wrapped her in a tight hug from behind, causing Ava to jump when she felt the arms around her. 

“It’s just me,” Sara mumbled into her back. She loosened her grip to enable Ava to turn in her arms to face her. 

“You were quick, is everything okay?” Ava questioned and Sara nodded, she glanced at the clock on the wall that read 8:30 pm meaning that she had only been gone for just over an hour. 

“Everything is perfect, although I have to tell you something,” Sara said she took half a step back from Ava so that she could see her face, “don’t look so worried, it’s great news trust me,” Sara grabbed onto Ava’s hands and pulled her into the living room and they both sat down on the couch. Sara intertwined her fingers with Ava’s and her legs were sprawled over her fiancee’s legs. 

“Something disrupted the timeline,” Sara said with a huge grin on her face.

“Okay? That happens almost everyday babe, why are you so happy about this one?” Ava questioned as she looked at Sara with a raised eyebrow.

“It was Laurel, apparently Ollie convinced her to take the DA job earlier so she was never killed by Darhk.”

“Okay, but why are you so happy about that, didn’t you have to put her back into the original timeline?” Ava interrupted before Sara could finish what she was saying.

“No, Z’s program found a loophole so that Laurel can stay alive without damaging time we just had to get her from 2016 and bring her here to 2019, and by saving Laurel it means that my dad never died, I get them both back Aves,” Sara said and Ava’s expression immediately turned from confusion to happiness for her fiance. 

“That’s amazing Sara!” Ava exclaimed, and Sara nodded her head with a huge smile on her face. “Where is she?” Ava questioned when she realized that Sara said that she had already brought Laurel to the present time, “please tell me you didn’t leave your sister outside in the freezing cold.”

“Of course not, she’s in my room on the Waverider with all of her things, I wanted to tell you in person before you met her,” Sara paused for a moment, “I also wanted to ask you if you would be okay with her staying with us for a little while?”

“Yes, of course, I’m okay with that, I can’t wait to meet her,” Ava said as soon as Sara finished asking her question. 

“Okay, do you think Riley’s gonna be okay with this?” Sara asked getting a little nervous as to how the small girl will react to a new person living with them, even if it isn’t permanent. She is very shy around new people and despite the fact that Sara has told her countless stories about Laurel that doesn’t change the fact that Riley has never met her before, the last thing she wants to do is make the small girl uncomfortable in her own home. 

“I think she is going to be fine, it will probably take her a day or two to get used to it but I’m sure she will be okay,” Ava reassured the captain. “I’ll go and get the guest room ready for her,” Ava said as she moved to stand up from the couch but Sara grabbed onto her hand and tugged her back down next to her. 

“Are you okay?” Sara asked and Ava nodded her head and opened her mouth to respond but before she could say anything Sara spoke again, “don’t lie, you’re nervous Aves I can tell, she’s gonna love you, you know.”

“Okay but what if she doesn’t what if she hates me and thinks that you deserve someone better, someone, who's not- someone who’s not a clone,” Ava said and looked down at her hands that were still joined to Sara’s. 

“Aves, she’s not gonna think that,” Sara let go of Ava’s hand and moved it to her face to tuck a stray strand of hair behind the director’s ear causing her to finally look at Sara. “Even if she did think that nothing is ever going to change the way I feel about you baby. I’m in this for the long haul, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” 

Ava cupped Sara’s face with both of her hands and slowly brought their faces together, she leaned closer and closed the small gap between them. Their lips met in a soft and slow kiss, Sara climbed onto Ava’s lap without breaking the kiss, causing Ava to let out a small squeak in surprise. Sara took that as an opportunity to slip her tongue into Ava’s mouth, the Director let out a soft moan as the kiss deepened. They broke away gasping for air, their foreheads leaning against one another as they caught their breaths. 

“I should probably go and get Laurel,” Sara whispered and Ava nodded slightly. 

“Mhmm, I need to clean the guest room for her.”

Sara climbed off of Ava’s lap and grabbed the time courier from the kitchen where she left it and opened a portal to the Waverider. Ava quickly headed up to the guest bedroom, which used to be her office so the room was fairly small, but it was big enough to fit a double bed, a dresser and a closet in it. 

As Ava was changing the sheets she heard Sara giving Laurel a tour of the apartment, and by the time she had finished changing the sheets she heard the two of them making their way upstairs, their voices were hushed to make sure that they didn’t wake Riley up. Before she could figure out what they were saying the door to the guest room opened and Sara stepped through with Laurel close behind her. The second she noticed Laurel the nerves hit her like a tsunami, she froze for a moment until she realized that Sara had stopped speaking. 

“Hi I’m Ava it’s so nice to finally be able to meet you,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face, she held her hand out for Laurel to shake, but the older Lance just pulled her into a hug, which shocked Ava a little. 

“Thank you,” Laurel said when she pulled away from Ava, leaving the taller women a little confused. 

“For what?”

“For everything, for letting me stay with you guys, for taking care of my sister all these years, you have made her happier than I have ever seen her,” Laurel said.

Ava had no idea how to respond to that, she felt like she was going to cry. Everything was a little overwhelming for the Director, she was so happy that Sara finally had her sister back in her life, she could see how happy Sara was just by looking at how shiny and blue her eyes were. 

“We can get all of your things from the Waverider in the morning, but for now I think we all need some sleep, Aves do you mind if Laurel borrows something to sleep in, I don’t think she would fit in my clothes.”

“Yeah, I’ll go and find something for you,” Ava said.

“Thank you, baby,” Sara called out as Ava left the room. 

“She seems lovely,” Laurel said as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

“She’s amazing Laur, I think you’re both gonna get on great,” Sara said just before Ava returned with multiple pajama sets for Laurel to choose from. 

“Thank you, Ava,” Laurel said with a soft smile on her face as she took the pajamas from Ava.

“We’ll let you get settled, our bedroom is just down the hall,” Sara said and gave her sister a quick hug before she and Ava left the room and headed towards their bedroom. The second the door closed behind them Sara wrapped her arms around Ava and just let the taller woman hold her. Ava knew that this had to all be overwhelming for her because the day before they had been talking about what she, Laurel and their dad used to do over Christmas; and now she finally has them both back with her. 

The next morning Sara woke up to an empty bed, the bright sunlight was streaming through a small gap in the blinds. She rolled over to wrap her arms around Ava but instead of finding her fiancee in the spot on the bed, she was met with cold empty sheets. She lifted her head slightly to look at the clock which read 7 am, which caused her to jump out of bed because she had to make sure that Riley was awake and getting ready for school while Ava made breakfast for them. 

She rushed into their en-suite bathroom and started her morning routine. As she was brushing her teeth, the memories of yesterday came back to her. She also realized that the memories of her dad’s death were gone and instead she had happier memories of him over the past couple of years. She remembers him meeting Ava for the first time, her telling him how she was going to propose to her and the first time she told him about Riley. She had memories of him face timing with Riley and although she hasn’t met him yet because he was busy in Star City with work, the young girl absolutely adored him. 

Sara quickly changed into some clean clothes and headed to Riley’s bedroom, but it was empty. So she headed downstairs and was met with Ava, Riley, and Laurel all sitting around the kitchen table eating pancakes and talking about something that Sara couldn’t quite hear. The sight made her heart swell with happiness. 

“Morning Ry Ry,” Sara said pressing a kiss to the top of the small girl’s head, but she didn’t even respond. Usually, when Sara walks into the kitchen in a morning to join them at breakfast, she jumps off of her chair and launches herself into Sara’s arms. “What’s wrong monkey?”

Riley just shook her head in response, letting Sara know that she didn't want to talk about it. Sara glanced over Riley’s head at Ava, and the taller blonde just shrugged her shoulders. 

“Come on, what have we said about keeping it to yourself when you’re upset. Use your words baby,” Sara crouched down in front of Riley and tried to convince her to tell her what was bothering her. 

“I don’t feel good, my tummy hurts and I feel sick,” Riley mumbled and Ava turned to look at the small girl with a concerned look on her face.   
“Riles why didn’t you tell me?” Ava questioned softly as she ran her fingers through Riley’s soft blonde locks. The small girl just shrugged in response. “Do you feel well enough to go to school?” Ava questioned and Riley shook her head. 

“Are you sure? It’s your last day of school before Christmas break,” Sara questioned and Riley nodded her head slowly and Sara lifted her up from the chair and into her arms before she sat back down on the seat opposite Laurel with Riley now on her lap. “Okay baby.”

Ava left the room to go and call the school to let them know that Riley wouldn’t be there today, leaving Laurel, Sara, and Riley in the kitchen. 

“Did you sleep okay?” Sara asked and Laurel nodded her head as she took a sip of her coffee.

“I did thank you, that bed is so comfortable,” Laurel said. 

Ava slipped her phone into her poked as she walked back into the kitchen. She started to clear the empty plates away and loaded them into the dishwasher, before joining the three of them back at the table. 

“I’m gonna head into work early then if I don’t need to take Riles to school, I’ll see you tonight,” Ava pressed a soft kiss to Sara’s lips before saying goodbye to Riley and Laurel. Once she was gone Sara moved to lay Riley down on the couch so that she could keep an eye on her, Laurel joined them in the living room, as she sat on the opposite couch. 

“Ava does realize that it isn’t even eight o’clock yet right? Why does she go to work so early if she can time travel too?” Laurel asked curiously.

“She loves her job. I have never met anyone who loves their job as much as Ava does before we had Riley sometimes she would go into work at seven and finish at like nine at night,” Sara said and Laurel looked a little shocked. 

“Now that is some dedication,” Laurel let out a soft chuckle. 

The two of them sat in the living room talking quietly careful not to wake Riley up until her phone rang.

“Gideon, what’s up?” Sara answered the phone and the AI began to tell her about a disruption in the timeline. A baby William Shakespeare had been displaced in time. “I’ll be right there.” 

Sara turned to look at Riley who was sleeping on the couch with her head resting on Sara’s legs. She stroked her cheek with her thumb and gently tapped her to try and wake her up. 

“I know, I’m sorry baby, but I have to take you to mommy’s office because I have to go to work,” Sara said and Riley said up slowly.

“I can look after her for you?” Laurel suggested.

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, of course, she’s my niece.” Laurel paused for a moment, “besides it might give us a chance to get to know each other a little better,” Laurel said and that was all Sara needed to know that Laurel was serious. 

She moved off of the couch and grabbed her shoes from the front door, she slipped them onto her feet before saying goodbye to Laurel and Riley. She quickly opened a portal onto the Waverider and they got on with the mission. 

Meanwhile, Riley spent most of the day sleeping, however, by around 4 pm she began to liven up a little and Laurel struggled to get her to stop talking. The small girl told her all about her school friends and the games they play at recess, she told her that she was going to get a Reindeer for Christmas and Laurel just went along with it, and it seemed to make the small girl even more excited when she realized that Laurel would be spending the day with them. 

Laurel made dinner for them, leaving some on two plates for when Sara and Ava returned home. By the time Ava had finished work, she finally looked at her phone and saw a text from Sara saying that Laurel was taking care of Riley because she was called onto a mission. Ava rushed home because she received that text almost six hours ago and she was sure that Laurel would rather be doing something other than taking care of a sick kid all day. 

However, when she arrived home she was met with nothing but silence. She made her way through the apartment stopping in the doorway of Riley’s room when she saw the soft glow of her nightlight seeping through the crack in the door. She gently nudged the door open and was met with Laurel sleeping on Riley’s bed with the small sleeping girl wrapped up in her arms. 

Ava left the room and closed the door behind her with a soft smile on her face. She headed back downstairs and sat down on the couch as she waited for Sara to arrive home, but she received a text from Gideon informing her that the mission is taking longer than expected and Sara probably won’t make it home tonight. With that Ava dragged herself up to bed and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Christmas at the Avalance apartment!!

The weeks fly by, Laurel spent a lot of time catching up with her sister and getting to know her future sister-in-law and her niece. The next thing they know it’s Christmas Eve and Riley is practically buzzing with excitement. 

The four of them had just finished eating lunch and were now sitting in the living room, Sara and Ava were on one couch and Laurel was on the other with Riley sitting on her lap. The small girl had her arms folded across her chest and her face was scrunched up. 

“What’s wrong Ry?” Sara questioned when she looked over at her daughter and noticed her expression. 

“It’s going too slow,” Riley said furrowing her brows even more. 

“What is?” Ava questioned with a raised brow as she turned her attention from Miracle on 34th Street playing on the TV, to Riley. 

“The day, it’s going too slow I want Santa to come now.”

“Do you want to look where he is?” Ava questioned softly and Riley nodded her head. She jumped off Laurel’s lap and ran towards Ava, she sat down on the empty spot next to her and waited patiently for Ava to get the Santa Tracking app up on her phone. Sara, Ava and even Laurel had to download the app because Riley asked where he was at least 15 times a day, all they had to do was show her where he was on the app and she would be happy for about 5 hours. 

“Is that him?” Riley pointed to the red dot that was just above Australia. 

“That’s him, he’s in Australia right now so he has to go to all of these different countries before he can come here,” Ava waved her finger over all of the countries between Australia and America, but by her showing Riley how many places he had to go to first only made the frown return to her face. 

“That’s too many mommy, can we go there and then he can get to us quicker?” Riley pointed to Russia. 

“Ry, by the time we get to Russia he will be at our apartment delivering the gifts, how about we play some games to pass the time,” Ava suggested and Riley’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. She ran out of the living room and to the cupboard near the stairs to grab some board games, she reappeared in the living room and dropped the boxes down onto the coffee table. 

Sara spread the boxes out on the table so that they could choose which one to play first, Riley grabbed Monopoly so Sara stacked the other three boxes on the floor beside the coffee table. 

“Come on Aunt Laurel, you can be the duck,” Riley said excitedly as she handed the tiny metal duck to Laurel, and she quickly ran around the other side of the table to sit beside Ava on the floor. 

“Okay monkey, who are we going to be now you’ve given our duck away?” Ava questioned, and Riley frowned when she realized what she had done. Whenever they played monopoly Riley and Ava were always on a team, mainly because Riley didn’t understand the game enough that she could play it on her own, but also because Ava won every game they played. When they first started playing it Riley teamed up with Sara but after the first few games of them loosing, she quickly switched sides and teamed up with Ava. 

Riley let out a soft ‘oh’ when she realized that the duck was the only one she liked. Laurel slid the small metal duck across the board and moved to sit closer to Sara. 

“Well you guys are in a team, it’s only fair if we team up too,” Laurel said, and a smug smirk worked its way onto Sara’s face. 

“Ha! I’m finally going to win,” Sara said causing Ava to playfully roll her eyes. 

“Don’t get cocky Lance,” Ava said as she began to put the cards in the correct places and hand out the money. 

“You didn’t give us enough money, is that really the lesson that you want to teach our daughter, that it’s okay to cheat?” Sara said with a playful lilt in her voice.

“I wasn’t cheating, I just didn’t count it right,” Ava responded as she handed a few notes to Sara and Laurel to make sure they had the right amount of money. 

“Sure you weren’t,” Sara quickly counted the money before handing it over to Laurel to get her to double-check that they had the correct amount. When Laurel confirmed that they had the correct amount they were able to start the game. 

“Do you wanna roll the dice Ry?” Ava questioned and Riley nodded her head excitedly before dropping the dice onto the board, Ava helped the small girl count the spaces that they had to move as Riley moved their little figure around the board. When it was Sara and Laurel’s turn Sara rolled the dice and then moved their little figure around the board.

“You moved more than you rolled on the dice,” Ava said when Sara stopped moving the little figure. The Captain looked up from the board and across the table at Ava with furrowed brows.

“What?” 

“You moved twelve spaces when you only rolled nine on the dice,” Ava said and Laurel looked between the two women, and then at Riley who was trying to reach across the table for the dice but couldn’t quite reach them; so Laurel nudged them closer to her and she quickly rolled the dice onto the board and waited for Ava to stop bickering with Sara so that she could help her count the spaces. 

“I did not move twelve spaces, if I rolled twelve spaces I would be there,” Sara pointed to three spaces in front of where hers and Laurel’s little figure was. 

“No if you moved nine like you were supposed to you would be two spaces behind us, but you're not you're there,” Ava said and Sara just rolled her eyes at her fiancée. 

While Sara and Ava were busy bickering over where the little metal figure should be on the board, Laurel noticed that Riley was struggling to count the number of spaces that she should move on the board. Laurel counted out how many she needed to move, pointing at each space as she counted for Riley. 

They were able to make it a few times around the board without Sara and Ava accusing the other of cheating. 

“Sara you’re getting on my last nerve, stop cheating,” Ava said with a sigh and Sara just smirked at the taller blonde. 

“Baby it’s just a game stop getting so worked up,” Sara said and Ava glared at her in response. 

“I wouldn’t be getting so worked up if you just played the game properly,” Ava snapped. 

“Well-”

Laurel quickly jumped in before Sara could finish what she was saying, “Okay, you two go and sit over there, you’re banned from boardgames, Riley do you want to choose a different one for us to play honey?” Laurel said and Riley nodded her head and looked through the small pile of board games next to the coffee table. Ava cleared Monopoly away and sat down on the couch, Sara joined her and sat so impossibly close to Ava and laid her legs across Ava’s lap.

“You’re so annoying,” Ava mumbled but made no effort to get Sara to move away from her.

“Yeah but you love me,” Sara said with the same smug smirk on her face as before, she gently poked Ava’s cheek to get her to smile; and Ava bit her lip to try and keep the annoyed look on her face. But, it didn’t work because a small smile worked its way onto her lips. 

“I do,” Ava mumbled and laid her head on Sara’s shoulder. 

Riley and Laurel carried on playing board games until it was time for dinner. After that, Sara and Laurel went to pick their father up from the airport. 

“Mommy when is Grandpa coming?” Riley questioned for the fifteenth time, in an hour, since the Lance sisters had left the apartment. Ava let out a soft sigh before standing up from the couch. 

“Soon monkey, how about we change into our pajamas and then we can get the milk and cookies ready for Santa?” Ava suggested hoping to occupy Riley’s mind with something other than waiting for Quentin to arrive. Riley’s blue eyes lit up at the suggestion, she quickly nodded her head and grabbed hold of Ava’s hand and the two of them made their way upstairs. 

“Do we get to wear the matching ones?” Riley asked excitedly. A few days after Laurel came to live with them she and Sara went to the mall and Sara came back with five sets of matching pajamas for them to wear on Christmas Eve. When Ava questioned it, Sara explained that they used to do that when she was younger and she always loved it and wanted to bring Ava and Riley in on the tradition. 

“We do, I put them on your bed. Do you need any help changing into them?” Ava questioned and Riley quickly shook her head before running into her bedroom, leaving Ava to change into her pajamas. 

“Mommy come on, we have to get the cookies and milk for Santa!” Riley said as she ran into the bedroom and jumped onto the big double bed; landing in the array of pillows. 

“Come on then monkey,” Ava said and the two of them made their way back downstairs. Ava got the cookies and the milk out, while Riley carefully placed them onto a small plate. Ava was about to pour the milk into a small glass before Riley tugged on her arm to stop her. 

“Can I do it?” Riley asked softly as she looked up at Ava with big round eyes. Ave found it very difficult to say no to her when she made her eyes do that, and she was pretty sure that Riley knew that and used it to her advantage. Ava simply nodded her head and lifted Riley up so that she was sitting on the countertop, where she could reach the glass properly. She was just about to finish pouring the milk into the glass when the front door opened, she quickly spun around to see if it was Quentin, knocking the milk all over the countertop and the floor in the process. 

“Oh no, I’m sorry mommy,” Riley said staring down at the milk that was spreading further over the countertop. 

“It’s okay it was an accident, come on get down we don’t want it to get on your pajamas,” Ava quickly lifted Riley down and started to clean up the milk when Sara snuck up behind Riley and lifted her up into her arms, causing the small girl to let out an excited giggle. 

“Is Grandpa here?” Riley whispered and before Sara could respond Laurel walked through the front door with Quentin carrying his bags following closely behind her. The second Riley saw Quentin she started to squirm in Sara’s arms, the blonde quickly placed her on the floor and the five-year-old sprinted over to Quentin and launched herself into his arms.

“Riley!” Quentin exclaimed as he caught the small girl and pulled her into a tight hug. Once Riley pulled away from him she quickly went back to the kitchen to finish putting the cookies onto a plate. 

“Mr. Lance, it’s great to see you,” Ava said and Quentin shared a look with Sara who just looked at her dad with a raised brow. No matter how many times Quentin told her that she didn’t have to call him Mr. Lance she still did. 

“Ava how many times do I have to tell you, call me Quentin,” he chuckled. 

“Sorry, Sir- Mr- sorry I mean Quentin,” Ava quickly corrected herself. 

“Mama, you have to put your pajamas on too,” Riley interrupted as she walked back over to them and tugged on Sara’s arm. Ava had never been more grateful for Riley and her tendencies to interrupt conversations than she was at that moment. She could feel her face burning with embarrassment because she stumbled over her words. Ava was usually quite confident when speaking to people, but she wanted her fiancée’s father to like her and the idea of him not thinking she was enough for Sara made her nervous. 

“I know baby, did you give aunt Laurel hers?” Sara questioned and Riley nodded her head proudly. “Dad do you want me to take your bags upstairs?” Sara questioned and he shook his head before following her upstairs. 

Later that evening the five of them were all sitting around the living room watching a Christmas movie. Sara and Ava were cuddled up with one another on one of the armchairs. Laurel sitting at the end of the couch with Riley sprawled out next to her, with her head resting on Laurel’s lap and Quentin was sitting at the other end of the couch, with his head leaning against the back of it, asleep. 

Once the movie finished it was Riley’s bedtime. “Ry do you wanna put the cookies and milk on the coffee table for Santa?” Sara questioned and the small girl nodded her head before jumping off of the couch and running into the kitchen, where Ava was pouring out a fresh glass of milk because the other one was spilled earlier. 

Riley grabbed the plate of cookies and carried them into the living room area with Ava carrying the milk close behind her. Sara was about the take Riley upstairs to put her to bed when the small girl let out a gasp. 

“Are you okay baby?” Sara asked with a concerned look on her face. 

“We have to leave a carrot for the reindeer mama!” Riley exclaimed before running back into the kitchen and returning moments later with at least six carrots in her arms. She carefully laid each one out along the coffee table and stood back to admire her work. “Do you think Santa will like it?” Riley asked and Ava nodded her head immediately hating the slight insecurity in her daughter's voice. 

“I think he is going to love it and so will all of the reindeer,” Ava said and at that, a small smile worked its way onto Riley’s face before it was quickly taken over by a yawn. “Okay come on, bedtime,” Ava lifted Riley up into her arms and she could tell the small girl was about to protest, “if you aren’t asleep then Santa won’t come.” That stopped all protest from Riley and the second Ava and Sara tucked her into bed she was fast asleep. 

*****

The next morning Sara and Ava were woken up by Riley almost two hours before their alarm was set to go off. The two of them expected her to be pestering them to go downstairs so that she could see if Santa had been. Instead, she sat down in between the two of them and handed a box to Sara along with a homemade card. 

“Happy birthday mama,” Riley said softly and Sara almost cried. She sat up slightly and opened the box to reveal a blue handmade bracelet that was almost identical to the one she gave to Ava on her birthday. “You’re matching now!” Riley said excitedly. 

“Thank you baby, I love it and I love you so much,” Sara slipped the bracelet on her wrist before wrapping her arms around her daughter and peppering kisses all over her face. 

“Can we go and see if Santa has been now?” Riley questioned as she looked at her moms with hopeful eyes. 

“How about we sleep for a couple more hours and then we can go,” Ava said and Riley nodded her head in agreement. 

“I have to get Simba,” she said before climbing off of the bed and rushing out of the room. 

“Happy birthday my love,” Ava said as she shuffled closer to Sara and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman. She pressed a gentle kiss to Sara’s lips before they just snuggled into one another’s embrace. When Riley returned they moved slightly to make room for Riley and her stuffed Simba. 

The three of them slept for two more hours until their alarm went off at 7 am. Ava quickly turned the alarm off and Riley quickly jumped up and stood at the end of the bed. 

“Can we go now?” Riley asked. 

“Yeah, why don’t you go and wake aunt Laurel and Grandpa up and then we can go and see if Santa has been baby,” Sara said and Riley nodded her head as she hopped off of the bed and headed towards Laurels room.

“Remember to knock Riley!” Ava called out after the small girl. Seconds later they heard a soft knock on the bedroom door followed by the door opening and closing again. 

“I want to stay here all day,” Sara mumbled into Ava’s chest. The taller woman was slowly running her fingers through her fiancée’s hair as they cuddled up with one another. 

“Me too, but if we don’t get up we’re going to have a very grumpy five-year-old,” Ava chuckled. “Besides you have your gifts to open,” Ava said and the two of them reluctantly got out of bed and found Riley waiting patiently outside of Quentin’s bedroom. Seconds later the door opened and Quentin appeared in the hallway wearing the matching pajamas that Sara had bought for the five of them. 

“Come on!” Riley squealed excitedly, she grabbed onto Laurel’s hand and dragged her downstairs, with Sara, Ava, and Quentin following close behind them. When Riley saw all of the gifts sitting under the tree she let out another excited squeal and sat down on the floor in front of them. Ava quickly sat down beside her when she started to grab at the gifts.

“You have to look for the ones with your name on honey,” Ava said and Riley nodded her head before she began looking at the tags on the gifts for her name. She grabbed one that clearly said Ava’s name on the tag but she liked the wrapping paper so she decided that she was going to open it anyway. She ripped the paper away to reveal a book about serial killers, Riley’s eyes lit up when she realized that it was a book but Ava quickly took it from her hands. 

“I don’t think that one was yours sweetie,” Laurel chuckled when she saw what was in Ava’s hands. Riley let out a soft ‘oh’ and began searching through the gifts again. 

“Hang on baby, how about you let mommy find your gifts?” Sara suggested and Riley stopped what she was doing and shuffled back a little to let Ava look at the name tags. She grabbed all of the ones with Riley’s name on and stacked them up around the small girl. She took no time in ripping the paper off of each gift and squealing in excitement each time she saw what Santa had brought for her. She was busy playing with her new toys when Quentin jumped up from the couch. 

“I left the gifts from me in my car,” he said more to himself than anyone else, before grabbing his car keys and rushing outside to his car. He returned a few minutes later with a large gift that looked suspiciously like a bike, and a bunch of other gifts. He placed the one that looked like a bike in front of Riley and handed the other gifts out to the three women. The small girl ripped the paper open and let out a soft gasp when she saw what it was. 

“Do you wanna go to the park later baby? So that we can teach you how to ride a bike?” Sara suggested and Riley nodded her head with an excited grin on her face. 

The rest of them took turns with opening their gifts, Ava opened hers first, then Sara, then Laurel and finally Quentin before it was Sara’s turn to open more gifts; this time her birthday gifts. 

“Woah they are cool,” Riley said as she peeked into the box on Sara’s lap. She tried to reach out and touch the set of shiny new knives that Ava had bought for Sara, but the Captain quickly pulled them away from her and handed the box to Ava; who put them in the safe with her gun for the time being. 

“Can we go to the park?” Riley asked Ava and the taller blonde nodded her head and told the small girl to get changed, she nodded her head and rushed upstairs. Once the five of them were ready they headed to the park, Riley was wrapped up in a coat that was probably a little too big for her but Ava was worried about her getting too cold. She was walking in front of them, gripping onto Laurel’s hand and practically dragged her along with her. Quentin was pushing the bike and Sara and Ava were walking hand in hand watching Riley drag Laurel, excitedly, to the park. 

When they arrived it was practically empty, apart from the few small families dotted around the park. Some were just walking around and others were playing with small dogs. They stopped on the pathway and Ava gently tugged the bobble hat off of Riley’s head and replaced it with a helmet. 

“Are you ready monkey?” Sara asked and Riley nodded her head. Sara held the bike in place as she carefully hopped onto the seat. “Okay we’re going to go over to Mommy,” Sara pointed to where Ava was standing a little further down the pathway. 

Riley started to pedal slowly over to Ava, she was a little wobbly but Sara was holding onto the back of the seat to make sure that she didn’t fall. The small girl pressed the breaks when they made it to Ava and Riley jumped off of the bike excitedly to hi-five her mom. She quickly got back on and pedaled over to Laurel this time, with Sara still holding onto the back of the seat. 

They did that for just over half an hour until Sara decided to try it without her holding on the whole time. “Are you ready?” Sara asked and Riley nodded her head, she began to pedal and Sara held the back of the seat for a few steps until she let go. Luckily Riley didn’t fall over and the small girl didn’t even realize that Sara had let go until she pressed the breaks on and didn’t put her feet on the floor to stabilize herself causing the bike to topple over with her underneath it. Ava rushed to her side and lifted the bike off of her before scooping Riley up into her arms.

“You’re okay Ry, I’ve got you,” Ava whispered into Riley’s hair as she wrapped her arms tighter around her as if it would make the pain go away. “What hurts?” Ava asked once the small girls’ tears subsided. 

“My knee,” Riley said lifting it up slightly and Ava could see the blood beginning to seep through her light-colored jeans. 

“Are you okay baby?” Sara asked as she gently rubbed Riley’s back and the small girl nodded her head against Ava’s neck. “Do you wanna go home?” Sara questioned and Riley just shrugged her shoulders. 

“I think that’s enough for today, how about we go home and get back into our pajamas and watch Christmas movies until dinner is ready?” Ava suggested and that seemed to lift Riley’s mood. 

The five of them headed home and Ava quickly got to work at preparing dinner, Sara tried to help her but she was banned from the kitchen because Ava knew that Sara was prone to burning things and she needed everything to go perfect. Instead, Laurel decided to help Ava with the food, Quentin offered too but according to the Lance sisters, he was just as bad as Sara at cooking. So he and Sara were sitting in the living room area watching Christmas movies, with Riley curled up in between them. 

“I’m proud of you, you know Sara,” Quentin said and Sara quickly turned her attention away from the TV.

“You are?” the confusion was clear in Sara’s voice.

“I am. I mean look at all of this,” he waved his hand around slightly, referring to the apartment, “a few years ago you were struggling with the bloodlust and now look at you, you’ve got an amazing woman by your side and you’re raising this incredible little girl. But most importantly, you’re so happy, I can see it in your eyes, Sara. Whenever Ava is around you light up like a Christmas tree, this is better than any life I could have ever imagined for you,” Quentin said his eyes filling up with tears, but he didn’t let them fall. 

Sara on the other hand, had a few stray tears rolling down her cheeks. She moved from her spot on the couch and pulled her dad into a hug. Only pulling away from him when Riley said, “Mama you’re squishing me.”

“Sorry baby,” Sara chuckled before running her fingers through Riley’s soft blonde locks.   
“How’s that knee doing kiddo?” Quentin asked and Riley’s face scrunched up in pain when she tried to move it to show him her dinosaur bandaid. 

“It hurts Grandpa.” 

“Hmm I think we might have to cut it off then, what do you say dad?” Sara said with a playful tone but Riley’s eyes widened in panic.

“Yeah, I think it’s gonna have to go baby,” Quentin played along and Riley jumped off of the couch and ran into the kitchen screaming, she wasn’t looking where she was going and slammed into Laurel’s legs. 

“Woah, careful honey why are you screaming?” Laurel questioned as she crouched down so that she was a similar height to her niece. 

“Mama and Grandpa said my leg has to be cut off,” she explained and she noticed Sara standing in the doorway, she had a playful grin on her face and decided to play along with it. 

“Oh yeah your leg looks pretty bad, I think they’re right it’s gotta go,” Laurel said and Riley shrugged Laurel’s hands off of her arms and ran over to Ava and clung onto her legs like a little koala bear. 

“Riley move I need to put this in the oven,” Ava said, she wasn’t paying any attention to what was happening with the Lance’s instead she was more focused on making sure that the meat was put in the oven at the right time. However, she quickly forgot about that when she noticed that Riley was crying. “What’s wrong monkey?” Ava crouched down so that she was level with Riley and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, as she waited for the small girl to tell her what was wrong. 

“Mama, Grandpa and Aunt Laurel said that my leg has to be cut off,” Riley said between hiccups. She could see Sara standing behind her telling her to go along with it, obviously not realizing that Riley was crying. 

“Ry they’re just messing with you, you leg is fine it doesn’t need cutting off. Come here,” Ava pulled the small girl into a hug and gently ran her fingers up and down her back. While she was comforting the small girl Laurel put the meat in the oven and Ava mouthed ‘thank you’ over Riley’s shoulder. “Come on let’s go and watch a movie while we wait for the food,” Ava suggested. 

Riley nodded her head and used her sleeves to dry her eyes, before she followed Ava over to the armchair. Ava lifted her up onto her lap and the small girl cuddled into her immediately. 

“Are you three done traumatizing my daughter?” Ava questioned, looking at each of them with a raised eyebrow. The three of them avoided Ava’s glare and they looked incredibly guilty when they realized that Riley had cried because of them. 

Just after the movie had finished the timer went off, which signalled that dinner was finished cooking. Ava and Laurel went into the kitchen to put it onto serving plates, while Sara, Quentin and Riley set the table and poured the drinks. 

It didn’t take long before they were all sitting around the table ready to eat when Riley stopped them all. 

“No, you can’t eat yet, we have to say what we’re thankful for,” Riley said, she put her knife and fork back down onto the table and stared down at her plate as she tried to think about what she was thankful for. 

“I think you’ve got your holidays mixed up there kiddo, you don’t have to do that at Christmas,” Quentin explained and Riley just frowned at her plate. 

“Oh, what do we have to do then?” She questioned. 

“We don’t really do anything, baby, we just eat,” Sara said and Riley nodded her head before digging into her food. 

They ate their dinner with Riley talking about whatever was on her mind most of the time. Once they had finished dinner and dessert Ava moved to clean everything away but she was quickly told to go and sit down by Sara. The Director did as she was told and sat down on the couch with her legs tucked underneath her. She also had Riley curled up next to her with her head resting on Ava’s lap. 

Everything was cleared away and the five of them were trying not to fall asleep after the big meal they just ate, when Ava jumped up from the couch. 

“Ry, come here,” Ava said and Riley had no idea what was going on but followed her mom into the kitchen anyway. Ava pressed a few buttons on her time courier and a portal to the Waverider opened up in front of them. 

“Aunt Z!” Riley exclaimed when she saw Zari sitting alone at the table eating a donut. 

“Hey little monster, do your moms know you’re here?” Zari asked before she noticed Ava aboard the ship too. “Oh hey Ava.”

“Do you mind watching her for a minute I just need Gideon to fabricate some candles for the cake,” Ava said and Zari nodded her head. 

“Did you have a good day kiddo?” Zari asked and Riley nodded her head excitedly before telling her all about her gifts and how they went to the park to learn to ride her new bike and what they had for dinner. “That sounds super exciting!”

“Did Santa bring you anything?” Riley asked and Zari just shook her head. “Oh that’s okay you can have one of my gifts if you want?”

“Thank you, but I don’t celebrate Christmas so I don’t need any gifts,” Zari explained and before Riley could say anything else Ava walked back into the kitchen with a handful of candles. 

“Are you ready Z?” Ava asked and the dark-haired woman nodded her head as she finished the last bite of her donut. Ava took the birthday cake out of the refrigerator and opened a portal to the apartment. The three of them stepped through and the second it closed behind them Ava out the cake down on the counter and began to light the candles. 

As soon as all of the candles were lit the three of them walked into the living room singing happy birthday, and when they realized what was happening Laurel and Quentin joined in too. 

“Make a wish mama,” Riley whispered before Sara blew out the candles.

“I know you said you didn’t want to have dinner, but there’s some leftovers in the kitchen if you want some,” Ava said to Zari while Sara was cutting the cake. 

They had invited Zari over for dinner, because they didn’t want her to be alone all day. Nora and Ray were at his moms, Mick, Charlie and John has gone out drinking all day, and Nate was at his moms. But Zari refused because she wanted Sara to be able to enjoy a day alone with her family. But Ava managed to convince her to join them for cake. 

“This is good cake, where’d you get it from Ava?” Zari asked as she shovelled another forkful of cake into her mouth. 

“The bakery a few blocks away,” Ava said and Zari responded with something along the lines of ‘I need to go to this place,’ but Ava wasn’t one hundred percent sure because she had a mouthful of cake. 

Later on that evening, everyone but Ava and Laurel had fallen asleep. Zari was asleep on the couch with Riley curled into her, Quentin had fallen asleep with his head leaning against the back of the armchair and Sara was sleeping and leaning into Ava’s side with her head resting against the taller woman’s chest. 

Ava quickly glanced around at everyone in the room and she realized that she had never felt happier than she did right then. She had real memories from a real christmas, which she spent surrounded by a real family. Which was something that she had wished for from the moment she found out about being a clone. She pulled Sara a little closer to her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she caught Laurel looking at the two of them with a soft smile on her face, from the corner of her eye. 

Ava wished that she could stay in that moment forever, it was so peaceful and even though almost everyone was asleep, the room was filled with nothing but love.


	12. Twelve

A few weeks into the new year, Laurel had finally found a place for her to live permanently. It was a small apartment in the center of Star City. As much as she loved living with Sara, Ava, and Riley in DC she missed home a lot. She missed being close to her dad, and her friends, but she also missed her job. She had been in contact with Oliver and he was going to give her, her old (short-lived) position of the DA, back. 

The day she was moving out was a sad day in the Sharpe-Lance household, Riley kept getting upset every time Laurel’s new apartment was mentioned in conversation. Sara was just happy to see her sister go out and help people again, and Ava had grown to love her future sister-in-law and she was going to miss her a great deal. 

The three of them were about to start moving Laurel’s belongings into her new apartment when Riley decided to shut herself away in her bedroom. Ava, Sara, and Laurel rushed upstairs after her and tried to go into her room but she had shoved something in front of the door to stop it from opening. 

“Riley open up baby, we just want to make sure you’re okay,” Sara said through the door and she was met with the small girl telling her to go away. The three of them were waiting outside of her bedroom when they heard her start talking. They couldn’t quite hear what she was saying because she wasn’t talking very loud and her voice was muffled by the closed door, however, it quickly became very clear that the small girl was crying after a short while.

“Go downstairs I’ll speak to her,” Laurel said and the two mothers looked at Laurel with uncertainty on their faces. “I’ll come and get you if she doesn’t calm down, I feel like I need to properly explain to her why I’m moving out,” Laurel said and the two of them seemed to agree with her because they just nodded their heads and headed back downstairs. 

“Riley, it’s Aunt Laurel, can I come in?” Laurel questioned as she knocked softly on the door. She heard her shuffling around the room, and it sounded like she was moving something out of the way before the door opened just enough that Laurel could see Riley’s tear-stained cheeks. “Can I come in?” Laurel asked again when the small girl didn’t move. She nodded her head and moved out of the doorway. 

Laurel followed Riley into the room and closed the door behind her. Riley was curled up on her bed with Simba held tightly against her chest, Laurel made her way over to the bed and sat down on the end of it. 

“You can sit here you know,” Riley’s voice was so quiet that she almost didn’t hear what she said. It was only when the small girl moved a little closer to the wall and patted the empty spot next to her that Laurel realized that she wanted her to sit next to her. Laurel quickly moved next to her and Riley moved so that she was curled into Laurel’s side. 

“What’s gotten you so upset?” Laurel questioned, she already knew the answer but she thought it would be best to get her to talk about it with her because Sara and Ava were big on getting the small girl to talk about her feelings more. 

Riley stayed silent for a little while after Laurel had asked her the question, it was like she was trying to figure out whether she should tell her the truth or not. “I don’t want you to go,” she finally said and Laurel wrapped her arm around her a little tighter to try and comfort her. 

“I know honey, I don’t really want to go either but I have to work. We can still see each other all the time, you can come and sleepover at my apartment and we can facetime, I’m never gonna be too far. Soon enough you won’t even realize I’m not here because you have your moms and I promise I will come back here for your birthday,” Laurel said and it seemed to help Riley cheer up a little, especially when she mentioned the two of them having a sleepover. 

“Okay, are you sure we can have sleepovers?” Riley questioned causing Laurel to chuckle because of course that is the only thing Riley picked up on, from everything she said. 

“I mean we would have to check with your moms but I don’t see why they would say no,” Laurel said, she knew that both Ava and Sara would probably jump at the chance of having a night alone. As much as they loved Riley, they missed having some alone time. 

“Are you not going to be sad when you move? You will be on your own,” Riley said with a soft frown on her face.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be with my friends and grandpa,” Laurel reassured her.

“That’s not fair, I want to live closer to grandpa,” Riley said. 

“I’m sure you will be able to sleepover at his house too, you can see your mama’s old room and mine,” Laurel said and Riley’s eyes lit up at the thought of that. 

“Cool! Was her room as cool as mine is?” Riley questioned.

“No, yours is so much cooler, your mama had a lot of pictures of boys on her walls,” Laurel paused and let out a laugh when she saw Riley’s face scrunched up in disgust. “I know gross right, she did have a bunch of toys that I think grandpa kept.”

Riley kept asking Laurel questions about Sara’s old bedroom and before she realized it, they had been in Riley’s room talking for just over an hour. 

“How about we go and see what your moms are up to?” Laurel suggested and Riley nodded her head, she hopped off of the bed and headed downstairs, dragging her stuffed Simba behind her with its ear. Laurel followed her and they were met with both Sara and Ava sleeping on the couch. Ava was laid out on the couch with Sara laid on top of her, the smaller blonde had her face buried in Ava’s neck and their legs were tangled together. It was difficult to figure out where one woman ended and where the other began.

Laurel tapped on Riley’s shoulder and pressed her finger to her lips to tell her to be quiet. She grabbed the time courier that was laid on the kitchen counter. She brought it closer to her face so she could try and figure out how to use it, luckily there was an option to go to the last visited place, she pressed a button on the side and a portal opened up in front of them. 

“Come on,” Laurel whispered and they stepped through the portal before it closed behind them. Laurel looked around the apartment and was surprised to see all of her things put away and onto shelves. When she stepped through into the apartment, she expected Sara and Ava to have just put the boxes down and left. Instead, the two of them had unpacked everything and had put it into its own place in the apartment. 

“Woah,” Riley said as she noticed the large bean bag in the corner of the living room. The small girl ran up to it and launched herself onto it. 

“Be careful Riles,” Laurel said. Once she was sure that Riley was settled on the bean bag and that she wouldn’t hurt herself, she took off into the kitchen to look around. Everything was exactly where she wanted it and everything was placed so precisely, it looked like a show home; that’s how she knew that Ava had done most of the work and not Sara. Simply because Sara would have just put things down and left them there, Ava, on the other hand, liked things to be neat and tidy.

“You could make so many pancakes on that,” Riley said excitedly as she entered the kitchen. 

“I could,” Laurel chuckled because of course, that is what Riley would be the most excited about. 

The two of them looked around the rest of the apartment, to find it just like the kitchen. Everything was already put away and into its new place. After looking around the apartment, they settled down onto the large L-shaped couch in the living room, Riley curled up in the corner clinging onto Simba and Laurel sat at the other end of the couch with her feet tucked underneath her. She sent a quick text to both Sara and Ava to let them know that she and Riley were at her apartment. 

They sat watching a movie that was almost over when a portal opened up in the living room, Sara and Ava both stepped through. Riley lifted her head from the pillow and looked at the two of them with a tired smile on her face she waved at them before dropping her head back onto the pillow. 

“Thank you guys for doing all of this,” Laurel got up from the couch and hugged her sister and Ava. 

“Don’t worry about it, I had fun doing it,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face. 

“She enjoyed the fact that she got to boss me around, don’t let her fool you,” Sara said and Ava just rolled her eyes before joining Riley on the couch. 

“Hi mommy,” Riley mumbled and Ava whispered hi back as she ran her fingers through the small girl’s soft blonde locks. 

“I hope you aren’t too busy tonight because I’m making dinner,” Laurel said. 

“We aren’t doing anything, what are we having?” Sara asked, and Laurel shrugged her shoulders realizing that she hadn’t thought that far ahead. 

“I need to go to the store to get some stuff but you’re more than welcome to stay here,” Laurel said and Ava nodded her head. When Riley heard that Laurel was going to the store she shot up and slipped her shoes on before waiting at the door for her aunt. “You’re like a little puppy,” Laurel chuckled. 

“Can I come with you?” Riley looked up at her with big round eyes before looking over at her mom’s with the same expression. 

“Go on, be good and stay with Aunt Laurel the whole time,” Sara said before the two of them left the apartment. 

Sara and Ava sat on the couch with a movie playing on the TV screen in front of them but neither woman was paying any attention to it. In fact, Ava’s attention was solely on her fiancée who was being unusually quiet. 

“What’s wrong babe?” Ava asked and Sara just shook her head as if to say nothing but Ava knew her too well to just accept that. “Come on,” she said in a playful voice that usually broke Sara out of one of her moods. Luckily this time it worked too because Sara’s frown turned into a small amused smile. 

“You’re such a dork,” she said trying to change the subject but Ava was having none of it. 

“What’s wrong? Don’t say nothing, I know you too well to believe that,” Ava said and Sara just let out a defeated sigh. 

“It’s stupid, I just, I’m gonna miss Laurel. I know she’s only going to be living a few hours away but I just got her back and I’m used to seeing her every day, I don’t know, it just sucks,” Sara stumbled over her words a few times as she tried to express how she was feeling. 

“It’s not stupid at all, it’s understandable babe, I know it’s not the same as seeing her every day but you could see her more often than usual,” Ava said and Sara just turned to look at her with a confused look on her face. 

“What are you talking about?” She didn’t understand what Ava was trying to say to her. 

“I’ve been thinking, and it’s completely up to you, but how would you feel about moving to Star City? Obviously, we would have to wait until after the adoption is finalized but we could get a nice house, one with a backyard for Riley,” Ava suggested, she was looking down at her hands that were playing with a loose string on her sweater. 

“Really? Are you sure that’s what you want? You love that apartment, what about work?” Sara had lots of questions running through her head. 

“Work is not an issue and you know that, I can just portal in every morning, everyone else does, and the apartment is nice and I do like it but I knew I wouldn’t live there forever, it will be nice for us to pick out a house together, if that’s what you want that is,” Ava said, she was getting slightly worried that she had crossed a line, Star City has a lot of bad memories for Sara. But that’s also where she grew up and that’s where her family is and the majority of her friends. 

“I mean if you’re one hundred percent sure about this I would love that,” Sara said with a huge smile on her face. She brought her hands up to cup Ava’s face as she slowly brought their faces closer together. She captured Ava’s lips in a soft kiss. 

“I. Am. So. Sure,” Ava said between kisses causing Sara to smile into the kiss. 

“I love you so much,” Sara said once they pulled away from each other. Their fingers were intertwined and Sara had her head resting on Ava’s shoulder. 

“I love you more,” Ava responded with a soft smile on her face. 

“Not possible,” Sara said with a playful glint in her eyes, she shifted on the couch so that she was laid down with her legs sprawled over Ava’s thighs. Ava let go of her hand and let them rest on top of Sara’s legs. 

The two of them sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet of Laurel’s apartment. That is until Laurel and Riley returned and the small girl was practically bouncing off the walls as she showed her moms the lollipop that Laurel had bought for her. 

“Mommy, mama look what I got!” Riley exclaimed and held the lollipop up in front of her as she ran up and launched herself onto the couch beside Ava. She crawled over Ava and squished herself into the tiny space between the two women. 

She struggled to take the wrapper off of the lollipop and after a few minutes, she gave up and just stared at it, before bringing it up to her mouth to open it with her teeth. Sara gently took it from her mouth so that she didn’t hurt herself, trying to take the wrapper off. 

“Don’t use your teeth,” Sara said as she took the wrapper off of the lollipop and playfully brought it towards her mouth and pretended to lick it. Riley’s hands flew towards Sara and she tried to grab the lollipop off of her but Sara lifted her arm a little higher so that she couldn’t reach it. She put it closer to Riley again and before she could take it from her she lifted it higher again. 

“Mama no,” Riley whined, but Sara carries on pretending to hand it over before moving out of the small girl’s reach. “Can I have it back please,” Riley whined again and Sara handed it over to her with a playful smile on her face. “Thank you.”

After that Ava gently lifted Sara’s legs up so that she could stand up, she placed them back down on the couch before leaving the room to help Laurel with dinner. 

It didn’t take long to cook, they were having Spaghetti Bolognese (at Riley’s request). Once it was served they all sat around the large round table in the kitchen and ate. 

“Ry do you want me to cut it up for you?” Sara questioned when she noticed that Riley was struggling to get the pasta to stay on her fork. She kept glancing around the table to see how everyone else was eating it, she grabbed her fork with both hands and tried to twirl the pasta onto her fork; but, it didn’t really work out for her because it just kept falling off. 

“No, I can do it, mama,” Riley said as she continued to try and twirl the pasta onto the fork. After around two minutes of trying and failing, she gave up. “I changed my mind mama, can you cut it please,” Riley asked.

“Of course baby,” Sara said and slid Riley’s plate closer to her so she could cut it up properly for her, before sliding it back in front of the small girl. 

“Thank you,” Riley smiled at Sara before digging into her food, she was able to get the pasta onto her fork now without it falling off. 

Once they finished eating they put the plates into the kitchen before moving into the living room. After sitting there for a few hours just talking Ava noticed that it was almost 8 pm, her eyes widened in shock when she realized how late it was getting. She glanced over at Riley who looked like she was getting tired, but she was fighting against it because she knew if other people knew she was tired then she would have to go to bed and she didn’t want that. 

“We should probably get you to bed monkey,” Ava said as she playfully poked Riley’s side making her squirm a little. 

“Nooo, I wanna stay here,” Riley whined but she was too tired to protest properly, so when Ava pulled her onto her lap she didn’t fight it.

“Nope, you need to go to bed you have school in the morning,” Ava said and Riley just let out a soft grunt in response, too tired to give a real response. “If you wanna stay with Laurel, I can put her to bed, you stay here,” Ava said and Sara gave her a soft kiss in response. 

“Thank you,” Sara whispered against Ava’s lips. She stared at her with nothing but love in her eyes. Without even talking about it, Ava knew that Sara needed a little while alone with her sister, she knew that they needed to talk and Sara would be forever grateful that the universe put someone as kind and caring as Ava in her life. “I love you, I won’t be long,” Sara said before turning her attention to Riley. “You be good for mommy, I’ll be back soon baby.”

“Luff you Mama,” Riley mumbled, she had almost fallen asleep in Ava’s arms when she heard Sara say her name she woke up a little.

Laurel reappeared from the bathroom, she sat down on the couch in her original spot next to Sara. She noticed Ava putting her shoes on and Riley’s shoes were in her hand while she held Riley in her other arm. The small girl had her legs wrapped around Ava’s waist with her arms wrapped loosely around her neck and her head resting on her shoulder. 

“Are you guys leaving?” Laurel asked when she realized that Sara was tapping away on the time courier next to her. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna go and put her to bed and finish up some paperwork for tomorrow, thank you for dinner Laurel it was lovely,” Ava said and she moved to hug her future sister-in-law when she realized that her arms were full. “If you need anything let me know.”

“Thank you, Aves,” Laurel said with a soft smile before Ava and Riley stepped through the portal that quickly closed behind them. “Are you not going with them?” Laurel asked with a hint of confusion in her voice since living with them for a few months Laurel had learned that Sara tried her best to be with Riley at bedtime because sometimes the girl got scared at night and had bad nightmares and after them, she would only let Sara calm her down. 

“No, I thought I could stay here for a little longer, I mean if you don’t want me I can go,” Sara said with a smirk on her face and Laurel just narrowed her eyes at her sister. 

“Shut up, I was just asking,” Laurel said, before getting off of the couch and heading towards the kitchen. “Come on, you can make yourself useful while youre here,” Laurel called out over her shoulder. 

Sara got off of the couch with a sigh to help her sister clean everything away. Ava had offered to do it earlier but Laurel made her sit down. The two of them started to clear the plates and pots away into the sink, Sara rinsed them off quickly before handing them over to Laurel so she could put them in the dishwasher. 

“I’m really proud of you, you know,” Laurel said as she continued to put the plates into the dishwasher. 

Sara was about to hand her another plate, but she froze at her sister’s words. Not many people told her that they were proud of her, other than Ava and Quentin. “You are?” Sara asked in slight disbelief. “Why?”

“Because look how far you have come, you fought through the bloodlust, you’re the captain of a group of time travelers. You’re getting married, I mean who would have thought that Sara Lance would actually settle down, plus she is one of the sweetest and smartest women I have ever met.” Laurel paused as she closed the dishwasher and stepped away from it. “And you’re raising a real-life kid and she is the most amazing kid, she’s so smart and funny.”

“I mean I think Riley gets most of it from Aves, but you’re right she is a pretty great kid,” Sara said with a smile on her face. She tried to make a joke because it made her a little uncomfortable when people complimented her. 

“She is very much like Ava, but she’s also a lot like you, she’s already been through so much more than any kid should ever face in a lifetime, she’s so strong and I think she’s learned a lot of that from you,” Laurel said, and Sara just looked down at her hands and played with her sleeve not really knowing what to say. “You need to give yourself more credit Sara.”

“You sound like Ava,” Sara chuckled. 

“Well you should listen to us, especially your future wife it will make your life a lot easier,” Laurel joked and Sara just rolled her eyes. 

“Are you excited to start your new job next week?” Sara asked as an attempt to change the subject.

“Yeah, I can’t wait to finally be able to do something instead of sitting around all day doing nothing, Felicity said I could join the team again if I wanted,” Laurel said. 

“Are you gonna do it?”

“I don’t know, probably not. As much as I loved helping to save the city, it almost cost me my life and I don’t want to risk that again.”

“That’s understandable, how is Felicity I haven’t seen her in a while,” Sara questioned, trying to think back to the last time she saw her friend. 

“She’s very pregnant, I think they’re having a baby girl,” Laurel said and Sara’s eyes widened a little. 

“Really? I really should go and see her and Ollie,” Sara said making a mental note to see the two of them at some point. “I should take Ava and Ry to meet them too,” Sara thought out loud. 

The two of them talked for hours, about how Laurel felt moving back to Star City, they talked about Riley and how she was doing at school, Sara told Laurel about Ava suggesting that they move to Star City and Laurel’s eyes lit up. Their conversation quickly turned into Sara and Ava’s wedding and Laurel revealed that she had already started planning the bachelorette party. 

“I don’t know if I want one,” Sara said.

“What do you mean you don’t know if you want one?” Laurel asked in disbelief. 

“Aves and I have talked about it and she said she doesn’t want one because she only has a couple of friends that are her own, because most of my friends are her friends too, well the ones that aren’t in Star City.”

“Oh,” her heart broke a little for Ava, she didn’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to be friends with Ava she’s a lovely person with the biggest heart. “I know how about you have a joint one? Instead of going to strip clubs and all of the usual bachelorette party things, we just go out for a meal and then have drinks?” Laurel suggested and Sara was about to turn the idea down, but when she said they didn’t have to do the usual bachelorette party things she agreed immediately.

Even if it was just Sara’s party she wouldn’t want to do that anyway, so she was glad that Laurel had suggested it. 

They talked about the party and the wedding a little more, before Sara saw that it was almost two in the morning and decided to head home. The Lance sisters said goodnight to one another before Sara opened a portal to their apartment and stepped through it as it closed behind her. Ava had left some lamps on for her, so that she wasn’t in total darkness when she came home. 

She quickly discarded her shoes next to the front door before heading upstairs to bed, she poked her head into Riley’s room to check on her and the small girl was sound asleep so Sara headed to her and Ava’s bedroom. The Director had left Sara’s bedside lamp on for her, she quickly changed into her pajamas before crawling into bed beside Ava and cuddling up with her.


	13. Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains sexual scenes.

“Are you Nora?” Laurel questioned as she stepped onto the Waverider to find a couple of people sitting around in the parlour. She had convinced Ava that she needed to speak to Sara but with her being in the temporal zone she wasn’t receiving any of her calls, Ava seemed to buy it and opened a portal for her. She didn’t particularly like lying to Ava but it was for her own good, she just wanted to surprise her. 

“No I’m Zari, I don’t know where Nora is, probably with Ray somewhere,” Zari said before turning her attention back to the Nintendo Switch in her hands. 

“Miss Darhk is with Mr. Palmer in the kitchen,” Gideon said and Laurel said a quick thank you to the AI before heading towards the kitchen. 

“Please tell me you’re Nora,” Laurel said and Nora nodded her head hesitantly. “Oh good, you’re Ava’s maid of honor right?”

“Yeah, wait who are you?” Nora finally asked. 

“I’m Laurel Lance, Sara’s sister. I’m almost finished planning their bachelorette party, Sara insisted that they have one together so I just wanted your opinion on the plans,” she said as she slid her iPad in front of Nora so that she could see everything that she had planned for them. 

Nora looked through everything before handing the iPad back to Laurel. 

“Do you think Ava will like it?” Laurel asked. 

“I think she’s gonna love it, Sara does know that she doesn’t want one though, doesn’t she?” Nora questioned. The moment Ava and Sara had got engaged Nora wanted to plan a bachelorette party, but Ava quickly shuts it down. It took her around four months of pestering her about it for her to finally admit that she didn’t want one because she didn’t have enough friends for one. She had just assumed that Laurel, Zari, and Charlie would only have wanted to go to Sara’s and she didn’t really have any other friends outside of the Legends. 

“She told me why she didn’t want one and it’s kinda sad, so we came up with the idea of a joint one. That way she can have Sara and you guys there as well as Felicity and everyone else from Star City,” Laurel explained and Nora nodded her head. She was getting slightly excited over the fact that she was able to go to her best friend’s bachelorette party. She had been pretty involved in the wedding planning, Ava constantly asked her questions about decorations and other things that Sara just shrugged her shoulders to, and said ‘I don’t know if you like it baby get it’, which stressed Ava out a lot. 

The two of them came up with a couple more ideas for the party before they started to book things. 

*****

Around a month later, everything was planned and everyone was ready to fly out to Napa Valley, California. 

The plan was to tell the two women that instead of a bachelorette party Laurel was just sending them on a weekend away. Sara and Ava were heading there a day earlier than everyone else, but they didn’t know that it was for their bachelorette weekend, Laurel had told them that they were just having a nice weekend away together. Laurel had booked a wine tasting session for the two of them followed by a meal at one of the most popular restaurants in the area. Then, the day after everyone was going to arrive and surprise the two of them at the hotel. 

“Ry hurry up we have to take you to grandpas house,” Ava called up the stairs when she put hers and Sara’s bags by the door for when they’re ready to leave for the airport. 

“I can’t find my Simba!” Riley shouted down the stairs followed by the sound of small feet rushing around upstairs. 

“He’s downstairs, come on we have to go,” Ava said but that didn’t make Riley come downstairs. “Riley, come on!”

The small girl didn’t respond. She came rushing down the stairs a few minutes later with a backpack full of books and stuffed animals. She put it down next to Simba and the bag with her clothes in it. 

“Are you sure you have everything?” Sara asked and the small girl rushed back upstairs. 

“Really? You can see that she has everything it’s right in front of you,” Ava snapped. 

“I just wanted her to make sure, relax. If we miss our flight we can just portal there,” Sara tried to reassure her fiancée but it didn’t really work. She could tell that she was stressed and it wasn’t just because there was the possibility that they could miss their flight, Sara knew it was something more. Even though Ava would never admit out loud that something scared her, Sara could tell when something did and every time it was mentioned that they were going on a plane, Ava tensed up slightly and she went very quiet. That’s how Sara knew that her fiancée was afraid of flying. 

“No, your sister paid for these flights we are going to get there on time, please go and see what she is doing,” Ava said as she moved closer to Riley’s things to check that she has everything. 

Riley finally wandered back downstairs with Sara following close behind her. 

“Are you ready?” Ava asked softly and the small girl just nodded her head before grabbing Simba and her backpack full of stuffed animals and books. “Okay, let’s go to grandpas.”

Ava opened a portal on an empty side road that led to a new apartment block near Quentin's house. The three of them stepped through and walked the short distance to the house. Sara knocked lightly before opening the door. 

“Dad?” She called out into the silent house. 

“In here,” came a slightly muffled response from the living room at the back of the house. Ava carefully placed Riley’s bags at the bottom of the stairs before following Sara and Riley into the living room. 

“You know you should really lock your door dad,” Sara said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 

“I can protect myself, baby,” Quentin said and the conversation ended quickly when Riley jumped onto the armchair with her grandpa. “There she is, how’s my princess huh?” 

“Okay, I made a new friend at school yesterday she’s new,” Riley said excitedly and started to tell Quentin all about the new girl and how she played with Riley and her friend at recess. 

“Baby we have to go now, be a good girl for grandpa and we will see you on Sunday okay?” Sara said once Riley had finished telling her story. 

“Oh,” Riley’s face dropped, her eyes were full of sadness and her eyebrows were slightly furrowed. She had been very excited about spending the weekend with Quentin but it seemed like it had only just hit her that she wouldn’t see her moms the whole time. 

“Can I have a hug?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head, she slowly climbed off of the chair and ran over to Ava. The woman crouched down and pulled Riley into a tight hug before peppering kisses all over her face causing her to erupt into a fit of giggles. “Like mama said, be good for grandpa and have fun, I love you to the moon and back, I’m going to miss you a lot.”

“I love you to infinity and beyond, I’m going to miss you too mommy,” Riley mumbled causing Ava to smile at the Toy Story reference, she let go of Ava before turning to hug Sara. 

“Have the best time, I’m sure you will Aunt Laurel has told me you’re excited to see my old room, you better not mess it up or else there will be trouble,” Sara joked and Riley just scrunched her nose up as a small smile worked its way onto her face. 

“You are going to come back for me, aren't you?” Riley asked after a moment of silence. 

“Oh baby, of course, we are coming back for you, we’re just going on a mini-vacation and we will be back before you know it okay? I love you so so much,” Sara quickly reassured her. 

“I love you too,” Riley said as she hugged Sara and Ava one last time before they headed back to the apartment to grab their own bags so that they could finally go to the airport. 

The drive there was quick, there were very few cars on the road which was a little surprising to say it was a Friday afternoon. However, when they arrived at the airport it was flooded with people, there were families with small children running around in excitement, there were young and old couples and businesspeople waiting in line getting visibly impatient at having to wait. 

They were in line to check-in for almost an hour, once they checked in, they had to go through security before they found themselves wandering around the stores in the airport. 

“We should get some candy for the flight,” Sara suggested as they looked at the wall full of different candies from all around the world. 

“Okay,” Ava responded and Sara was a little shocked that she agreed to get candy so quickly. “What? We’re on vacation,” Ava said and grabbed a giant bag of sour patch kids. 

They quickly paid for everything and headed over to their gate that had just been announced over the speakers. They were in the line waiting to board when Sara began to rummage through her backpack. 

“Aves have you got my boarding pass?” Sara asked and the director shook her head. 

“No, I gave it to you because you needed it to buy the candy,” Ava said and Sara’s face dropped when she realized that she had left it on the counter in the store at the other end of the terminal. 

“Fuck, I left it in the store,” she said and Ava rolled her eyes. 

“Go and get it! If you don’t make it back in time I’ll tell them where you are and I’ll wait here for you,” Sara nodded her head before sprinting towards the store. 

Ava got closer and closer to boarding the plane, she kept letting people in front of her but she was now at the back of the line and Sara was nowhere to be seen. 

“Next,” the woman called and Ava stepped towards her but didn’t hand over her boarding pass. 

“My fiancée has left her boarding pass in one of the stores, she should be back any minute,” Ava explained and the woman tried to subtly roll her eyes but it didn’t work Ava saw it but didn’t say anything.

“I’ll go and let the captain know,” the woman said, she turned on her heel and headed towards the doors that led to the plane. But before she could walk through them Sara finally appeared at the gate. She was out of breath and gripping onto the boarding pass like her life depended on it. 

“Wait! I have it,” Sara called out after the woman. She rolled her eyes once again and returned to her original spot and held her hand out to scan Sara’s boarding pass. 

“Have a nice flight,” the woman said, Sara and Ava, rushed onto the plane and found their seats immediately. 

“On the way home I’ll look after your ticket,” Ava said once they had settled down in their seats. 

“It’s not my fault, the guy didn’t give it back to me he left it behind the counter,” Sara tried to defend herself but Ava just laughed quietly and leaned her head on Sara’s shoulder. Sara took Ava’s hand in her own and laced their fingers together, she could tell that Ava was scared about being on the plane, even though she didn’t say it out loud. She was terrified of it, she was good at masking her feelings but when the plane started to take off Ava gripped onto Sara’s hand so tight that her knuckles turned white. 

Sara scrunched her face up at the pain but quickly wiped the expression off of her face and gently squeezed Ava’s hand to let her know that it was okay. “You’ve fought a group of clones, angry Vikings, you survived your own personal purgatory, you can do this baby,” Sara whispered and Ava looked at her with a soft smile on her face but the death grip she had on her hand didn’t loosen one bit. 

Once they were up in the air and the plane was at a steady height, Ava finally let go of Sara’s hand and saw that it was bright red. 

“I’m so sorry,” Ava said, she brought it up to her lips and pressed a soft kiss against the bright red skin. 

“It’s okay,” Sara chuckled. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?” Sara questioned, she wanted to keep Ava occupied so that she wasn’t focused on the fact that she was terrified of flying. Ava nodded her head and Sara pressed on a random movie on the screen in front of her and it began to play through their earphones. 

The movie worked, Ava didn't worry about the fact that they were thousands of feet in the air. In fact, she fell asleep with her head on Sara’s shoulder before the movie was even halfway through. It wasn’t until they were beginning to descend that Ava woke up. She grabbed onto Sara’s hand and squeezed even harder than before if that was even possible. Once they were on the ground and ready to leave the plane Ava finally relaxed. 

They left the plane and headed towards the baggage area, Sara grabbed her bag off of the conveyor belt and they were waiting for Ava’s to appear. 

“Oh god what if they lost my bag,” Ava said as she paced up and down the small area in front of Sara whilst never taking her eyes off of all the bags appearing. 

“They won’t have lost your bag,” Sara said in an attempt to calm her down but it didn’t work. Ava continued to pace in front of her and she was now biting her nails. Sara stepped forward and gently pulled her hand away from her mouth and gave it a gentle squeeze. “It will appear you have to give it time.”

“There are four people left waiting Sara, it’s obviously not here look the stupid thing isn’t even moving anymore,” Ava said and she was starting to get frustrated and all of Sara’s attempts to calm her down didn’t work at all. Until the conveyor belt began to move once again and Ava’s bag was the first one to appear. 

“Oh thank god,” Sara whispered before letting go of Ava’s hand, she went and grabbed the bag. “See, I told you it would turn up, let’s get out of here,” Sara said, she grabbed their bags and the two of them headed towards the exit, but before they could leave they spotted a man holding a sign that said ‘Lance/Sharpe’ on it. They made their way over to him.

“Are you Sara and Ava?” he asked and the two women nodded their heads. “The car is parked up outside if you would like to follow me,” he said and they just followed him out of the airport. He stopped in front of a black SUV and carefully put their bags into the trunk. 

Their drive to where they were staying was mostly silent apart from the light hum of the radio. Ava had fallen asleep again, she had been awake the whole night before worrying about leaving Riley for the first time and having to go on a five hour flight. 

*****

They arrived at the villa, it looked pretty big for just the two of them. They got out of the car and grabbed their bags before heading inside. 

“Are we paying for this?” Sara asked as they looked around the large villa. It was very well decorated and it looked like it would be very expensive.

“Laurel paid for it, she insisted. I tried to pay for it but she said that it was her way of saying thank you for letting her stay with us,” Ava explained with a slight frown on her face as she recalled the conversation that she had, had with her future sister-in-law.

“She’s so stubborn,” Sara muttered causing Ava to roll her eyes. 

“Mhmm, just like her sister,” Ava said which earned her a glare from her fiancée. “Come on it’s almost six, we have the wine tasting at seven,” Ava rushed into the master bedroom and Sara followed her. 

The two of them unpacked their bags and quickly changed their clothes and both of them applied some light makeup before leaving the villa and heading to the place where they were doing the wine tasting. 

“Why do you think Laurel booked a house with like fifty rooms for just the two of us?” Sara thought out loud, Ava shrugged her shoulders as they sat down to wait for their waiter. 

“I don’t know, maybe she didn’t realize it was for more than two people?” Ava suggested and Sara shook her head. 

“No, she’s like you. There is no way she would have booked this place without knowing every little detail about it,” Sara said and Ava nodded her head in agreement because that is exactly what Laurel would have done. 

They were finally led to a room in the back of the building where they were met by a tall dark-haired man wearing a three-piece suit. He shook their hands and pulled their chairs out for the two of them. 

“You must be miss Lance and miss Sharpe?” He questioned and the two of them nodded their heads and he introduced himself as James Harrison. 

The wine tasting didn’t go on for very long, and once it was over they headed to the restaurant across the road. The place was very busy, luckily they were seated immediately because Laurel had made a reservation for them. 

“This place is fancy,” Sara whispered once they were settled in their booth towards the back of the restaurant. 

“It is, I feel a little underdressed,” Ava glanced down at her outfit, feeling a little insecure. She was wearing a plain white button-up shirt that was tucked into some burgundy colored tailored pants, and her hair was in soft curls. 

“You look hot,” Sara said as she pressed her lips to the side of Ava’s neck. They were then interrupted by their waitress standing at their table ready to take their drink order. Ava ordered a bottle of the wine that they both liked from the wine tasting, the waitress quickly wrote it down and left them alone again. 

She came back shortly after and poured the wine into the glasses for them and left the bottle on their table, she then took their food orders and took it to the kitchen. 

“I wonder what Riley is doing,” Ava broke the silence between the two of them. Sara moved a little closer to her and laced their fingers together. 

“My dad said he was taking her out for dinner with Laurel,” Sara said and Ava nodded her head. Sara could tell that she was worried about the small girl, it was the first time they had been away from her for longer than a few hours. She gently squeezed Ava’s hand and leaned her head on Ava’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about her, she’s going to be fine. You know my dad would call the second anything happened, but nothing will happen, so we can just relax and enjoy this weekend away.”

“You’re right, he raised two people she’s going to be fine,” Ava said to try and convince herself that everything would, in fact, be perfectly fine. 

“Do you want some more wine?” Sara asked when she noticed Ava’s empty glass. The Director nodded but the bottle only had enough wine to fill the glass halfway, they quickly ordered another bottle and by the time it was brought to their table, their food arrived. 

Sara ordered Ravioli and Ava ordered the Risotto, she was about to eat a forkful of her food but she froze when Sara let out a loud moan next to her.

“Sara, what are you-” 

“It’s so good Aves, try some,” Sara said, she guided her fork towards Ava’s mouth and the taller woman ate the piece of ravioli. 

“That’s good, but please don’t make that noise again people are staring,” Ava said as she picked up her own fork and began eating. The table next to them kept glancing over at them and it was making Ava feel slightly uncomfortable.

“I thought you liked it when I make that noise,” Sara pouted and Ava’s eyes went wide, she felt a blush heating up her face. Instead of looking at Sara she just stared down at her plate, she knew that Sara had her signature smirk on her face so she refused to look at her. “I have a feeling that I’m going to be making that noise a lot more tonight when we get back to the villa, maybe in every room?” Sara teased, her hand moved to rest on Ava’s thigh and she moved it higher and higher until the waiter stopped at their table.

“Is everything okay with your meals?” he asked with a friendly smile on his face. 

“It’s perfect, right Aves?” Sara said and Ava just nodded her head, she didn’t trust her voice to be stable enough to respond to him verbally. Sara’s hand was still dangerously high on Ava’s thigh and luckily for Ava, the Captain kept it there and didn’t move any higher. Ava’s cheeks felt like they were on fire, she took some deep breaths to try and calm herself down but nothing was working. Usually, Sara couldn’t rile her up this easily, but the moan had thrown Ava off and the fact that they were in public and Sara was doing and saying those things to her turned her into a flustered mess. 

They finished their meals pretty quickly and ordered another bottle of wine. They sat in the booth in a comfortable silence as they drank the wine, they were on their third bottle and Ava was pretty drunk and Sara was only slightly tipsy. 

“This is nice, but I think we should go back to the villa,” Ava ran her fingers up Sara’s thigh and moved to press her lips to Sara’s neck. 

“Can we have the cheque please,” Sara said quickly to the waiter passing by their table, he nodded his head and walked away. “It’s so hot when you get like this, you know that right,” Sara said and Ava just giggled. She shifted in her seat and slipped her hand under Sara’s shirt, she raked her fingernails over Sara’s abs and let her hand rest on her left boob as she began to suck on Sara’s neck.

Sara tilted her head slightly to give Ava more access, it wasn’t until the waiter cleared his throat as he placed the cheque at the end of the table. Sara quickly leaned away from Ava, but the taller blonde didn’t even realize the waiter was standing there and continued her movements under Sara’s shirt. 

The young boy diverted his eyes, looking everywhere but Sara and Ava. “Would you like to pay by cash or card?” he questioned looking above their heads.

“Card please,” Ava mumbled into the side of Sara’s neck, and Sara quickly repeated it to the waiter, he handed the card machine over to Sara who grabbed Ava’s card from her purse and put it in the machine, she typed in the pin and once the payment was confirmed the boy told them to have a good evening and practically ran away from their table. 

“We should get more wine,” Ava suggested.

“I agree, but not the one we’ve been drinking it was nearly a hundred dollars per bottle baby,” Sara said and Ava just shrugged her shoulders. 

The two of them left the restaurant hand in hand, but the second they got outside Sara wrapped her arm around Ava’s waist to try and support her a little more. The Director was a little wobbly on her feet due to the amount of alcohol she had consumed. They went into the first store they saw and bought multiple bottles of wine and beer to last them the rest of the weekend. 

They were walking slowly back to the villa, Sara’s arm was still around Ava’s waist and her steps were getting more and more uncoordinated the more she walked. 

“Are we there yet?” Ava mumbled and let out a soft whine when Sara shook her head. 

“Five more minutes baby,” Sara said. 

“I can’t wait five minutes I need you now,” Ava said and this time it was Sara’s turn to blush because Ava usually wasn’t this open about sex, especially not in public. But once she had a bit of alcohol in her all of that went out the window, she didn’t care what she said or did.

“Well, in that case, we need to speed it up a little,” Sara said as she tightened her grip around Ava’s waist. The Director tried to walk quickly but she ended up stumbling over her own feet.

Luckily they made it home without Ava tripping over herself and the second the door was shut behind them Ava pushed Sara up against the wall and started kissing and sucking on her neck. Sara let out a soft moan and dropped the bag with the drinks to the floor, her hand flew up to Ava’s head and she tangled her fingers in the long blonde hair; causing Ava to bite down on her neck.

“We should go somewhere more comfortable,” Sara said and Ava nodded her head against Sara’s neck before she pulled away from her. Ava grabbed onto Sara’s hands and gently tugged her towards the living room and pushed her down onto the large L-shaped couch. “I meant the bedroom, but this works too,” Sara smirked as she tugged Ava down next to her and climbed onto her lap.

She cupped Ava’s face and joined their lips in a soft kiss that Ava quickly deepened. Her hands quickly moved to Sara’s hips and pulled her impossibly closer, the kiss was sloppy and uncoordinated. Sara unbuttoned Ava’s shirt and pulled it off of her before throwing it to the other end of the couch. She kissed her way down Ava’s body and made quick work of unbuttoning her pants, she pulled them agonizingly slow down Ava’s legs causing the latter to let out an impatient whine, the pants quickly joined the shirt on the other end of the couch once they were off. 

“Sara, please I need you,” Ava said and Sara just smirked before moving back up Ava’s body and turning her attention to her boobs. She pressed soft kisses over Ava’s chest as she reached behind her fiancee’s back and expertly undid the clasp of Ava’s bra and pulled it off of Ava’s body before tossing it to the side. 

Sara began to kiss her way down Ava’s body once again, she stopped at Ava’s boobs where she began to kiss them. The kisses quickly turned into her sucking and biting down on them and once she was finished there were various red marks peppering Ava’s chest. Once Sara was satisfied with her work she moved further down Ava’s body, stopping once she reached the waistband of Ava’s panties. She took the waistband between her teeth and dragged them down Ava’s legs and once they were off she tossed them on the floor and settled between Ava’s legs. 

“That was hot,” Ava whispered and Sara just looked up at her with a smirk on her face before she moved slightly to allow her to run her tongue through Ava’s folds. Ava let out a loud groan as her hand flew to Sara’s head. Sara turned her attention to her clit, she ran her tongue over it before sucking on it. She did that for a few moments but she knew Ava needed more than just her tongue so she added two fingers, causing the Director to let out another loud groan. 

She built up a steady rhythm, pumping her fingers in and out curling them in a way that she knew was bound to send Ava over the edge rather quickly. She was correct it only took a couple of minutes before Ava’s back started to arch and she began to convulse around Sara’s fingers before she let out a quiet moan and her whole body tensed up. Sara slowly pulled her fingers out and brought them up to her lips and sucked each one of them clean causing Ava to let out another groan. 

“That was. You’re incredible but you’re wearing too many clothes,” Ava slurred as she looked down at Sara.

“Oh yeah, you gonna do something about it?” Sara questioned and Ava nodded her head but made no movement to remove Sara’s clothes, she was too busy trying to steady her breathing.

“You do it, I’ll watch,” Ava said with a slight smirk on her face, Sara nodded her head and stood up from the couch and began to slowly start removing her clothes, item by item, starting with her shirt and finishing with her panties. She had turned around so that her back was facing Ava when she was taking her pants off and when she turned back around she expected to see Ava watching her. 

Instead, she had her eyes closed and her breathing had evened out, indicating that she was in fact asleep. Sara just rolled her eyes and joined her on the couch, she gently moved Ava so that she was on her side and closer to the back of the couch. Sara laid down, but she was laying more on Ava than she was on the couch. It didn’t take long for sleep to finally consume Sara when she was cuddled up in Ava’s arms. 

*****

The next morning Ava woke up before Sara, the sunlight was beaming through the windows and it was way too bright for her. She was certainly feeling the effects of the alcohol. She glanced down at Sara who had her head resting on Ava’s chest, and she was still sleeping peacefully.

“Morning,” Sara whispered without opening her eyes, after a few minutes of Ava looking down at her. 

“Morning,” Ava said, she pressed a kiss to the top of Sara’s head. 

“How are you feeling sleepyhead?” Sara asked and Ava just rolled her eyes at the nickname.

“My head is killing me,” Ava paused for a moment, “sorry for falling asleep on you last night.”

“It’s okay, as long as you know that you owe me.”

“Mhmm, later though I need more sleep,” Ava mumbled and Sara nodded her head against her chest and the two of them closed their eyes and fell back to sleep almost instantly.

They woke up a couple of hours later, only to hear people walking through the front door. Sara opened one eye to try and see if she could see who it was, but she had no luck. She elbowed Ava’s ribs to try and get her to wake up but it didn’t work. 

“Aves, wake up people are here, we are in the right place right?” Sara started to panic, she jumped up and tried to get into her clothes as quickly as possible. She managed to get her underwear on before she stopped to throw Ava’s clothes at her. “Ava!” Sara said a little louder this time and Ava finally moved, but not quick enough because somebody made their way into the living room. 

“This place is so-” the woman stopped speaking the second she saw Ava completely naked trying to put her underwear on. “Oh my god,” the woman said and Sara looked up and saw that it was Felicity, she was frozen in the doorway, but she quickly moved when she heard somebody else approaching the living room. 

Sara and Ava were finally fully clothed and made their way out of the living room and into the kitchen area, where Felicity and everyone else was. Ava’s cheeks were bright red and she couldn’t bring herself to look up from the floor. 

“At least now we know why this place has like a million bedrooms,” Sara said and Ava just nodded her head, still refusing to look up from the floor. 

“Exactly it has a million rooms, why didn’t you use one?” Laurel asked dryly causing Ava’s cheeks to go even redder. 

“Oh relax, we barely did anything, Ava fell asleep before I had even gotten rid of all of my clothes,” Sara said as she moved to fill up a glass with water. 

“Sara please stop talking,” Ava said through gritted teeth. 

“Yeah I’m with Ava on this one, please stop, I do not need to know about my baby sister’s sex life,” Laurel said and Sara just shrugged her shoulders, while Ava was still turning redder by the second. 

“I’m gonna go and shower,” Ava said quickly before leaving the room.

The room fell silent for a moment until Felicity spoke up. “She’s hot, you did good Sara. Is that appropriate? It’s probably not, I’m gonna shut up,” Felicity rambled on causing Sara to laugh. 

“She is hot, but I should probably go and check on her,” Sara said, she quickly made her way upstairs to their bedroom where she found Ava sitting on the edge of the bed staring down at the floor. “You okay baby?”

“Huh? Oh, um yeah, I’m sorry I’m probably overreacting it’s not like we were actually doing anything when she walked in. It’s just, you know how I am with this stuff, and she saw me naked and I just,” Ava stopped mid-sentence. Sara crouched down in front of her and took her hands into her own. 

“You don’t have to apologize for how you feel baby, this situation is a little awkward, we could always just go and get a memory flasher so none of them would remember it,” Sara squeezed her hand gently and Ava just shook her head with a small smile. 

“That is against protocol and you know it,” Ava said and Sara just shrugged her shoulders, she stood up and sat down on the bed next to Ava. 

“Come on, let’s go and shower, I believe you owe me for last night.”


	14. Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another long chapter, I hope you enjoy :))

Sara and Ava finished showering and changed into some clean clothes before heading back downstairs. The two of them expected everyone else to be there, but it was empty not a single person was in sight. Sara turned on her heel and frowned at Ava who just shrugged her shoulders. 

“We should go in the pool,” Sara suggested and Ava was a little hesitant. She had memories of swimming in both pools and the ocean but she had never actually done it because those memories are all fake. She was a little scared that she wouldn’t be able to do it. “Come on, I’ll be with you the whole time and if you don’t like it we can get out and sit in the sun,” Sara said, looking up at her with pleading eyes. 

“Okay,” Ava agreed immediately because with Sara by her side she felt invincible like she could take on the whole world. They stripped down to their bikinis and Sara just ran up to the pool and jumped in splashing Ava in the process. 

“Come on Aves,” Sara called out once she emerged from the water. Ava was a little hesitant but she slowly walked towards the pool and climbed down the steps leading into it. “Just jump,” Sara said but Ava ignored her and continued slowly down the steps. 

Once Ava was in the water she kind of just stood there not really knowing whether to swim over to Sara or to try and walk through the water. Luckily she didn’t have to decide because Sara swam over to her and latched herself onto Ava. She had her arms wrapped around Ava’s neck and she jumped up slightly and wrapped her legs around Ava’s waist. 

“Are you okay with this?” Sara asked softly, referring to her clinging onto Ava like a koala. The taller woman just nodded her head and wrapped her arms around Sara’s waist to make sure she doesn’t fall back into the water. 

They stayed wrapped up in one another’s embrace for a while until Zara, Charlie and Nora joined them outside and their peace and quiet was immediately broken.

“Cannonball!” Charlie yelled out before making a run up and jumping into the pool, splashing both Sara and Ava in the process. Nora and Zari joined them in the pool too, except they used the steps instead of jumping in. 

Sara stayed wrapped up in Ava’s embrace as they floated around the pool, wrapped up in their own little world. Not long after the three Legends joined them in the pool, Laurel, Felicity and Thea all joined them outside dressed in swim wear. It wasn’t until she glanced over Ava’s shoulder at Felicity that she realized that the woman was very very pregnant. She didn’t know how she didn’t notice earlier, although it was a little hectic when they first arrived. 

Sara finally moved away from Ava when the taller woman began talking to her best friend. She hopped out of the pool and headed over to her sister and her friends. 

“Congratulations Felicity,” Sara said excitedly, referring to her baby bump. 

“Thank you,” Felicity said with a huge smile on her face. She immediately pulled Sara into a hug, we’ll as best she could with her belly getting in the way. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, and apparently I missed a lot. I need to start coming home more often,” Sara said and Felicity nodded in agreement. The two of them sat down on the two sun beds that were right next to each other. 

“Yes you do, Oliver misses you too, oh and you have to meet William! We have told him all about you,” she said excitedly. 

“That’s Ollies son right?” Sara questioned and Felicity nodded her head. 

“Laurel told me about Riley, I would love to meet her she sounds like such a great kid,” Felicity said with a soft smile on her face as she watched Sara’s eyes light up at the mention of the small girl. 

“She’s amazing, she’s gonna love you, I have a feeling she’s gonna be a little tech genius like you. She’s always on mine and Ava’s phones playing games and stuff, I honestly think she can work them better than Ava,” Sara teased and her comment earned her a playful slap on the arm. She quickly looked up to see Ava standing there with a playful grin on her face. 

“I heard that, but you’re probably right,” Ava joined Sara on the sunbed. 

“Oh Aves this is Felicity, Felicity this is Ava,” Sara introduced the two of them when she realized that they hadn’t been formally introduced yet. 

“I would hug you, but it’s gonna take me at least five minutes to get up from this bed,” Felicity said earning a small chuckle from the Director. 

“How far along are you, if you don’t mind me asking,” Ava asked her voice was soft and friendly. 

“Not at all, I’m seven and a half months,” Felicity responded and that launched the two women into a conversation about her pregnancy, whether it was going to be a boy or girl. She told Ava all about her cravings and how excited her mom was to become a grandma. 

Sara sat back on the bed with her feet resting in Ava’s lap as she listened to the two of them talk. Their conversation got Sara thinking about what Ava would be like pregnant, with the baby bump and the cravings and the excitement of whether they would have a boy or a girl. 

Her mind then drifted to Riley and what kind of big sister she would be, she imagined that she would be a lot like Laurel in the sense that she would do anything to protect her younger sibling. But, her personality was also a lot like Ava’s, with following rules and she was quite shy. So she imagined that the younger one would be more like Sara when she was younger, testing the rules and causing some trouble. 

Sara was quickly brought out of her thoughts when she heard Felicity ask if they would have another kid. 

“Oh, um, I think we’re focusing on finalising the adoption first, but we haven’t spoken about having another one, I think it would be nice for her to have a younger sibling,” Ava explained to the woman in front of her. Her answer brought an excited smile onto Sara’s face, she quickly sat up and re-joined the conversation. 

“I think so too,” Sara grabbed onto Ava’s hand and gently squeezed it. 

They spent the rest of the day just lounging around the pool, up until around 3 p.m. when everyone headed back inside to shower and get ready for dinner. 

“Aves your back is like really burnt,” Sara grimaced as she looked at her fiancée’s bright red back. There were two white lines on her back and shoulders where her bikini had been.

“Did we bring any aloe Vera gel with us?” Ava questioned, she tried to sit as still as possible on the bed, because when she moved her shoulders it made them hurt even more. 

“No, I can’t find it, Laurel probably has some I’ll go and ask her,” Sara said before exiting the room. She reappeared a few minutes later holding a bottle of it in her hand. “Turn around, I’ll put it one for you.”

Ava did as she was told she turned so her back was facing Sara and the second she felt the cold gel on her burning skin she let out a soft groan. 

“God that feels so good, can you put the whole bottle on it,” Ava said scrunching her face up in pain slightly when Sara pressed on a little too hard. 

“I’ll put some more on for you when we’re done getting ready,” Sara said and Ava nodded her head. 

The two of them showered, did their makeup and hair, and changed in just under two hours. They were the first ones ready so they sat down on the couch and waited for everyone else. 

“I never want to go in the sun again,” Ava groaned, she had to sit upright on the couch because when she leaned against the back of it, it only made the pain worse. Sara gave her a sympathetic look before gently squeezing her thigh to try and comfort her. 

“Where are we gonna go for our honeymoon then?” Sara questioned and Ava just shrugged her shoulders in response. 

“Somewhere cold, like um… Iceland! We’re going to Iceland where there is only five hours of daylight,” Ava said as she tried her best not to move her shoulders. 

“That’s a bit dramatic don’t you think?” Ava just shook her head in disagreement. “Okay well you enjoy Iceland on your own, I’m going to Australia,” Sara said and Ava just let out a huff in response. 

“Are you guys ready?” Laurel called out from the other room. The two women jumped up from the couch and joined the others in the foyer. 

“We have been ready for like twenty minutes,” Sara said. 

“Nobody wanted to check on you after you traumatised Felicity this morning,” Zari said causing everyone but Sara and Ava to laugh. Ava’s cheeks turned bright red, and Sara just glared at the totem barer. 

“Okay let’s go,” Felicity said and the group left the villa and headed towards the restaurant. It didn’t take long to get there and they were seated immediately because Thea knew the owner. 

Once they ordered their food and drinks everyone was quickly wrapped up in multiple conversations. Sara was listening to Thea and Felicity’s conversation when her phone buzzed. She swiped it upwards to unlock it and saw that it was a text from her dad. 

It was a picture of Riley fast asleep in her car seat in the back of Quentin’s car. She had a small stuffed lion, that Sara had never seen before, held tight against her chest. After the picture Quentin sent another message. 

‘She’s gonna sleep well tonight, we had a nice day at the zoo she enjoyed the Lions the most, I took a bunch of pictures I’ll show you when you’re home.’

Sara was about to show Ava the picture when she received another text from her dad. 

‘You’re also gonna need to make some more room at home for her stuffed animals.’

She quickly responded to her dads messages before handing her phone over to Ava to show her the picture. 

“We’re going to have to move house sooner than we expected just to fit all of her stuffed animals in,” Ava said causing Sara to laugh. But everyone else around the table stopped talking and just looked at the two women who were too wrapped up in their own little bubble to realize everyone was looking at them. 

“You’re moving?” Laurel questioned, finally capturing their attention. 

“Oh, um yeah we’ve been looking at houses in Star City for a few months now, but we haven’t found one that we like and we didn’t want to tell anybody until we were completely sure it was happening,” Ava explained. 

“Oh my god this is so exciting!” Felicity exclaimed. “There’s some houses for sale a few blocks away from Quentin’s house.”

“Yeah we looked at those, they weren’t big enough,” Sara said and Felicity just nodded her head. They talked a little more about what kind of house they wanted before everyone broke off into their own conversations again. 

Their food arrived shortly after and everyone began eating. The waiter came over to the table to take their drink orders and Sara tried to order another bottle of wine for the two of them with a mouthful of food. Ava nudged her arm with her elbow and frowned at her, before repeating what Sara had just tried to say. 

“You’re disgusting,” Laurel said, rolling her eyes at her sister. “Honestly it’s a miracle Ava puts up with you.”

“Oh please, I’m delightful,” Sara said earning a chuckle from the tall blonde beside her. “What? I am and you know it.”

“I mean I wouldn’t say delightful, but you’re certainly something,” Ava teased and Sara just scowled at her. 

“Well at least we know where Riley gets her pouty face from,” Zari said from across the table when she saw Sara’s face. 

“I do not pout.”

“You’re pouting right now Sara.”

“I’m gonna take my wine and leave in a minute,” Sara reached for the bottle of wine that had just been placed down in front of her and Ava. 

“Remember earlier when you called me dramatic, I think you’re the dramatic one babe,” Ava smirked at her fiancée who just glared at her in response. 

“What is this? Everybody gang up on Sara day or something?” 

Ava just giggled at her fiancée, she was already starting to feel the buzz of the alcohol and it was making her a little dizzy. 

Everyone was finished eating and the plates were cleaned away, Ava stood up and told Sara that she was going to the bathroom. Instead of heading to the back of the restaurant she went over to the counter where their waiter was standing and quickly paid the bill for the whole table; before actually going to the bathroom. 

Meanwhile at the table everyone was looking a little tired from all of the food that they had just eaten. 

“Can we have the cheque please,” Laurel asked their waiter as he passed by their table. 

“Oh, it’s already been paid, the tall blonde woman has just paid it,” he said clearly referring to Ava, and Sara’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion. 

“That has to have been over three hundred dollars, she can’t pay for all of us,” Felicity said and Sara just shrugged her shoulders. 

“She’s not gonna change her mind, she’s pretty stubborn,” Nora said and Sara nodded her head in agreement. Moments later Ava returned to the table and everyone was staring at her. 

“What? Do I have something on my face,” Ava questioned suddenly feeling self conscious, she pulled her phone from her pocket and turned the front camera on so that she could see for herself. There was nothing there and yet everyone was still looking at her. 

Laurel leaned forward and slid some money in front of Ava, earning a confused look from the Director. After Laurel did that everyone else did the same. 

“Why are you giving me money?” Ava asked, her voice laced with confusion. 

“For the food, you can’t pay for all of ours,” Thea said and Ava just shook her head and pushed the money away from her. 

“No no don’t worry about it, I just wanted to pay for it, it’s okay. Take your money back.”

They finally took their money back from Ava when she continued to refuse to take it from them. They finished up their drinks and left the restaurant. 

“We should go to that bar over there,” Sara pointed towards a modern looking bar across the street from them. Everyone agreed and they found themselves in the back of the bar in a booth. 

Sara appeared at the table holding a tray full of drinks, she handed the lemonade to her sister and Felicity before handing everyone else their drinks. 

“What are those,” Ava asked looking down at the shot glasses in front of her in disgust. 

“Tequila,” Sara said with a smirk, she put the lime slices down in front of Ava and grabbed the salt. She poured some on the back of her hand and handed it over to Ava, but the blonde refused to take it from her and gently nudged the shots back in front of Sara. “Nooo, you have to do them with me, nobody else wants to.”

Ava was about to refuse again, until she looked at her fiancées face. Sara was looking at her with a pleading pout on her face. “Fine.”

Ava poured the salt on the back of her hand and Sara smiled proudly at her. They both licked the salt from their hands, took the shot and bit down onto the lime. 

“I love you, but I’m not doing another one.”

“Pleaseee.” 

“No, I’m sure Charlie will,” Ava said but when she looked around the table Charlie was nowhere to be seen and neither was Zari. “Where is Charlie?”

“Charlie and Zari left us to go back to the villa when we finished at the restaurant, Z claimed that she wasn’t feeling too good but we both know that she’s fine,” Sara said with a smirk.

“Oh, I’m still not doing another shot babe.”

“Just one more?” Sara pouted once again, “just this one and I’ll do the rest.”

“You’ll do the rest? Sara there are eight shots, you can’t do all of those,” Ava said looking at her fiancée with wide eyes. 

“Trust me she’s done a lot more than eight shots in a row, you should have seen her as a teenager. I’m surprised her liver’s still functioning,” Laurel said and Ava’s eyes grew wider but Sara just shrugged her shoulders and pushed the shot glass closer to Ava. They both did the shot and Ava pulled a face at the burning sensation. She reached out for another one and Sara just looked at her with a confused look on her face. 

“You aren’t doing all of these by yourself, you’ll get sick.”

They finished all of the shots and Sara had a lopsided grin on her face because of how fast Ava did them. Meanwhile, Ava was certainly feeling the affects of the alcohol. Her vision was slightly blurry and she felt like she was going to throw up, she leaned forward and tried to focus on what Felicity was talking about, but it was a little difficult when she felt like she was going to throw up every two seconds. 

“Are you okay baby?” Sara whispered when she noticed Ava swaying slightly. The taller blonde didn’t realize that Sara was speaking to her until she placed a hand on her thigh. 

“Huh?”

“I said, are you okay?” Sara gently rubbed circles on Ava’s thigh and Ava just leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. The room felt like it was spinning but she focused on the feeling of Sara’s hand on her leg and it seemed to help a little. 

“Mmm that feels nice,” Ava mumbled, still not answering Sara’s question. Laurels head shot up and looked over at the two of them, she noticed Sara’s arm moving slightly below the table and Ava seemed to be enjoying whatever she was doing. 

“Sara hands above the table, we’re in public,” Laurel snapped causing the two women to burst into a fit of giggles. The shots had definitely affected them and apparently when they’re drunk together they turn into giggly girls. 

Sara moved her hand from Ava’s leg and slammed it down on the table a little too hard, causing the people on the table next to them to look over at them. 

“What’s wrong with my hands?” Sara questioned, her words slurring slightly and Ava just giggled at her once again before leaning into her side. That wasn’t the best idea though because it made the room feel like it was spinning faster, and that only made her feel like she was going to throw up more. 

“Sara, babe, you got- you gotta stop moving I’m gonna throw up,” Ava paused in between her words, and Sara looked at her with wide eyes. Sara quickly stood up from her seat without any warning and Ava flopped down onto the seat. She sat up slowly with a frown on her face, but she quickly moved out of the booth when she was certain that she was going to throw up this time. She pushed past Sara and ran into the bathroom. 

“Oh god, they’re going to have a nice flight home when they’re hungover,” Thea chuckled as she watched Sara race after her fiancée into the bathroom. 

Sara followed Ava into the first stall, she closed the door behind them and pulled Ava’s hair back the best that she could all while trying to keep herself upright. Ava leaned over the toilet and emptied her stomach into it, once she was done she sat back and leaned against the wall. 

“Baby that’s gross, the floor is dirty,” Sara tried to pull her up but instead Sara ended up being pulled down into Ava’s lap. 

“I can’t wait to marry you,” Ava mumbled into Sara’s back. 

“I can’t wait to marry you either, we should just sneak off to Vegas and elope.”

“Nope, we have too much planned already.”

“Sara. Ava. Are you guys okay?” Laurel called out into the bathroom. Sara reached her hand out under the door and just waved it at her sister. “Are you guys sat on the floor?”

“Yep.”

“That is disgusting, get up and come out,” Laurel said with her nose scrunched up in disgust. 

“I’m bisexual,” Sara responded and Laurel just rolled her eyes at her sister. 

“Sara I swear to god,” Laurel paused for a moment and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Come out of the stall. We’ve ordered an Uber and it should be here soon, Ava are you okay honey?” Laurel questioned as she got closer to the door. 

There was no response from either woman, instead the door flew open and Sara stepped out but Ava was still on the floor. Laurel quickly stepped in and helped the Director up, she helped her freshen up after sending Sara out of the bathroom. 

“Are you okay?” Laurel questioned and Ava just nodded her head. 

“Mhmm, I- where did Sara go?” Ava looked around the empty bathroom to try and find her fiancée. 

“She’s outside with Felicity, Thea and Nora, she’s okay don’t worry,” Laurel rubbed her hand up and down Ava’s back. 

“You know, I’m so glad that Sara was able to save you. I wanted to meet you so bad because Sara told me everything about you but I couldn’t and now you’re here and you’re amazing. I’m happy you got to see how happy she is and how far she’s come from the bloodlust problem,” Ava slurred as she leaned into Laurels embrace and rested her head on her shoulder. 

“I’m happy I got to meet you too Aves. You’re the best thing to ever happen to her, you and Ry, I never thought I would see my sister settle down let alone have a kid, and I’m so glad it was with you.” Laurel paused when Ava looked like she was going to throw up again, but when the Director assured her that she was gonna be okay she wrapped her arm around Ava’s waist to stabilize her before speaking again. “Come on, let’s go back to the villa.”

They left the restaurant and everyone was already waiting outside for them. 

The ride back to the villa was short, Ava had fallen asleep with her head resting on Felicity’s shoulder and Sara kept looking at her with a jealous pout on her face. They managed to wake her up and help the two of them upstairs, bumping into Zari on the way. 

“What happened to those two?” She questioned with an amused smile on her face. 

“They did too many tequila shots,” Nora told the totem barer. 

“Please tell me you got videos.”

“Oh I did don’t worry.”

Nora and Zari split off into their own rooms while Felicity and Laurel were making sure that Sara and Ava got to bed okay. Laurel wiped Sara’s makeup off for her, and the whole situation felt very familiar to her. She thought back to when Sara went to her first party in high school and Laurel had to go and pick her up because she got too drunk. 

Ava was out like a light the second her head hit the pillow, except she was laid on her stomach with her face buried in the pillow. 

“Do you think we should roll her over? What if she suffocates herself, oh god. She’ll be okay right?” Felicity leaned closer to the woman and let out a relieved sigh when she heard her breathing. 

“She sleeps like that sometimes, it’s a little weird,” Sara said from the other side of the bed without bothering to open her eyes. When Laurel had finished wiping her face she rolled over and wrapped her arms around Ava and threw her leg over the back of her thighs. “Night Felicity, I love you. Night Laurel, I love you. Night Aves, I love you more than anything in the whole world.”

The two women smiled softly at Sara before turning out the light and closing the door behind them as they left the room. 

*****

The next morning Ava woke up to her alarm with an annoyed groan. She reached over and turned it off before settling back into bed and into Sara’s arms. She was cuddled into her chest and she quickly realized that they were still dressed in last night's clothes. 

She tried to fall back to sleep when Sara’s alarm went off five minutes later. Sara grabbed her phone turned off the alarm and dropped her phone onto the bed. 

“Why do we have so many alarms?” Sara mumbled into the top of Ava’s head and the taller woman just shrugged her shoulders and wrapped her arm tighter around Sara’s waist. They both tried to get back to sleep but there was a knock on their door. 

“Sara, Ava are you guys awake?” Laurels voice came through the closed door. 

“We’re awake, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Sara questioned. 

“Are you guys decent?” Laurel waited for the two to confirm that they were in fact decent before she entered the room. “Get up! We have a flight to catch in five hours.”

Ava just groaned and threw her arm over her eyes, while Sara climbed out of bed and grabbed a change of clothes for herself and Ava. She tossed the clothes at Ava and quickly got changed. 

“Aves come on baby, get dressed and I’ll go make you a coffee and get some pills,” Sara said softly as she made her way over to Ava’s side, she leaned down and ran her fingers through Ava’s hair; her fingernails gently scratched her scalp and Ava closed her eyes once again. 

“Can you not just stay here and do that all day,” Ava whispered and Sara just chuckled, she stopped her movements and grabbed a hold of Ava’s hand instead and pulled her into a sitting position. 

“I wish, we can tomorrow though I’ll take Ry to school and when I get back we can cuddle all day. How does that sound?” Sara suggested and Ava slowly nodded her head and pulled Sara into a soft kiss. “I’ll go and get the coffee started.” And with that Sara left the room, leaving Ava to change and get ready for the day. 

“Morning, how are you feeling?” Felicity questioned from her spot on the bar stool. 

“I feel great, Ava on the other hand she’s not feeling so good,” Sara moved over to the counter and poured some coffee into a mug for Ava. “Does anyone have any Advil?” 

“Here,” Laurel placed the pills in Sara’s hand. “I figured someone would need them, I didn’t expect it to be Ava though,” Laurel chuckled. 

“Good morning,” Ava said softly as she entered the kitchen. Sara handed her the coffee and the pills before greeting her with a kiss and the two of them joined Felicity at the breakfast bar. 

“How’s your head this morning?” Nora questioned and Ava just groaned in response. She leaned forward with her elbows on the countertop and her head resting in her hands. 

“It’s killing me. I am never drinking again, and you,” she turned to look at Sara, “you aren’t allowed to buy drinks by yourself ever again, because I can never drink tequila again. Just the thought of it is making me want to throw up.”

“Next time I won’t get as many for you.”

“Next time? There’s not gonna be a next time, did you not hear what I just said?” Ava said with a raised eyebrow. Felicity was laughing at the two of them as she scrolled through her phone beside them. 

“Whatever you say Aves,” Sara grabbed onto Ava’s hand and brought it up to her lips as she pressed a kiss to the back of it. 

“I’m gonna ask you now that you’re sober, are you sure you don’t want money for dinner last night?” Laurel questioned and frowned when Ava shook her head. 

“Yeah I’m sure, it’s the least I could do because you wouldn’t take any money for our flights or this place,” Ava gestured around the room with her hand before taking another sip of her coffee. 

“Dad just sent me another picture of Ry,” Sara said and handed her phone over to Ava, so that she could see the picture. 

Riley was standing in Quentin’s living room wearing a Star City Stars hockey jersey, which was way too big for her. She had a huge smile on her face. 

“Oh my god, look at her little smile!” Felicity exclaimed when she saw the picture. Laurel walked around the counter and stood behind Ava so that she could see the picture of her niece. 

“I see dad has finally roped her into the game,” Laurel chuckled, thinking back to hers and Sara’s childhood. He would always try to get them to play hockey or even just watch it with him, but neither of them were interested in the sport. Luckily for him he had his granddaughter that he could convince to like the sport and it seemed to work looking at the huge toothy grin on her face. 

“Oh god,” Sara just shook her head and took her phone back from Ava. She typed a quick response to her dad before turning to look at her fiancée. 

“This is so exciting, it’s her first proper interest. Do you think she’s going to want to play hockey? We need to find her a place to play it, we-” Ava paused when Sara grabbed onto her hand. 

“Aves slow down, we don’t even know if she actually likes the game yet. My dad used to dress me and Laurel like that all the time and we hated the game, but if she does we can find somewhere for her to play it,” Sara said softly, and Ava just smiled at her and nodded her head slowly. 

The Director leaned forward and rested her head on the counter in front of her. She closed her eyes and regretted it immediately when the room felt like it was spinning and she felt as though she was going to throw up. 

She shot up out of her chair and ran towards the closest bathroom. Sara was up out of her chair and following her down the hallway within seconds. She got there just in time to hold Ava’s hair back for her. 

“Let it all out baby,” Sara mumbled as she gently ran a hand up and down Ava’s back, to help soothe her. 

Ava leaned forward and emptied her stomach. Once she was finished she rinsed her mouth out and sat down on the bathroom floor. The tiles were cold against her back, which helped with the nausea but also with her sunburn. 

“How are you feeling?” Sara gently tucked a strand of blonde hair behind Ava’s ear and let her palm rest against Ava’s cheek. The taller woman leaned into the touch and closed her eyes. 

“I feel awful,” Ava mumbled with her eyes still closed. “I am never drinking again and I mean it.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Sara said with a raised eyebrow. “Come on let’s get you back to bed, while I pack our things.”

Sara stood up and held her hand out to help Ava stand up. The Director accepted the hand and they headed upstairs, Ava immediately got back into bed and curled up into a ball under the covers. 

Meanwhile, Sara sat on the floor at the end of the bed with the two small suitcases open in front of her. She folded Ava’s clothes and neatly placed them into her suitcase. She folded a few items of her own clothing but got bored halfway through and decided to just throw them into the suitcase. 

Sara had everything packed away when Laurel softly knocked on their door. 

“Are you guys ready to leave the Uber will be here in ten minutes,” Laurel said before disappearing down the hall. 

Sara sat down on the edge of the bed and gently nudged Ava to wake her up. 

“Aves, baby, you have to get up the Uber is on its way,” Ava shot up and looked around in a panic. “Hey, hey don’t worry I packed everything, all you need to do is put your shoes on.”

Ava’s features relaxed and she looked at her fiancée with a loving smile on her face. 

“You’re amazing, I love you,” Ava said and Sara’s cheeks turned a slight pink color. 

“I love you too, but you gotta get out of bed before Laurel comes back to check we’re ready. I think she’s this close to loosing it with Z and Charlie even though they’re not coming to the airport with us they’re going straight to the Waverider,” Sara chuckled. 

The two of them checked that they had everything with them before heading downstairs and joining the others. The Uber arrived not long after, they said their goodbyes to Nora, Charlie and Zari before getting in the Uber. 

Like the previous night, Ava was sleeping with her head resting on Felicity’s shoulder. 

“I’m glad you aren’t looking at me like you want to kill me today,” Felicity said and Sara just looked at her with a confused expression on her face. 

“Ava fell asleep like that on the way home last night and you were shooting daggers at Felicity,” Thea explained and Sara looked a little guilty. 

“Sorry, I don’t usually get jealous like that,” Sara apologised and Felicity just smiled and waved it off. 

The rest of the ride to the airport was silent and once they arrived at the airport Ava was beginning to feel anxious about flying once again. They were sitting in the waiting area and Sara noticed Ava visibly tense up when their flight was called to board. 

“You’re gonna be okay, I’ll be by your side the whole time,” Sara reassured her and Ava nodded her head but didn’t say anything. They boarded the plane and found their seats. Sara was in the window seat, Ava was in the middle and Laurel was in the aisle seat. 

“Are you okay?” Laurel asked, she was concerned for her soon-to-be sister-in-law. Ava nodded her head slightly and just stared straight ahead of her, while gripping onto Sara’s hand tightly. 

Once the plane was in the air Ava managed to get some more sleep as did Sara. Laurel snapped a picture of the two of them and looked at it with a soft smile. Ava had her head on Sara’s shoulder and Sara’s head was resting on top of Ava’s. Their hands were intertwined together and were resting in Sara’s lap. They looked so peaceful. 

The plane landed safely and they headed to baggage claim before saying their goodbyes. 

“Let me know when you’re free and Ollie and I will come over with William,” Felicity said and Sara nodded her head in agreement before wrapping her arms around her friend. The hug was a little awkward because of her baby bump but she wrapped her arms tightly around her. 

Sara drove them home where they could finally open up a portal to Quentin’s house. 

“Mommy! Mama!” Riley yelled out when she noticed her moms walk through the door. She jumped up and ran towards them launching herself at Ava. The taller blonde caught her in her arms and brought her into a tight hug as she peppered her face with kisses. 

“I missed you so so much baby,” Sara mumbled into the top of Riley’s head when the small girl finally gave Sara a hug. 

“I missed you too mama,” Riley said snuggling her face into Sara’s neck. 

Sara places Riley back on the floor and the three of them joined Quentin in the living room. Where Riley stood in the middle of the room and looked at her moms with a cheeky looking grin on her face. 

“What are you up to monkey?” Sara questioned suspiciously. 

“Do you like my new shirt? It even says my name on the back of it,” Riley did a little spin and on the back of the bright orange jersey it said LANCE with the number 15 underneath it. 

“Lance huh?” Sara couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. Riley nodded her head proudly and ran over to join Sara, Ava and Quentin on the couch. 

“Mhmm, Grandpa says I need to have my own name on it for when I play so people know who I am,” Riley said and Sara glanced over at Ava who was looking at their daughter with so much love in her eyes that she felt her heart skip a beat. “Can I play hockey? Please please please.”

“Of course you can honey,” Ava said. Both she and Sara hated the sport and Riley wanting to play it meant that they would have to go and watch. But, they could definitely learn to like the game when they saw Riley’s eyes light up with excitement when Ava said she could join a team. 

“Thank you!” Riley squeaked with excitement and wrapped her arms around Ava. 

They stayed at Quentin’s house for a while. He and Riley told them all about their weekend together, and Sara told Quentin about their weekend. Leaving out the part where Felicity walked in on them. 

After they left Quentin’s house, their evening was pretty chilled out. They found a hockey team for her to join in the city and the small girl was ecstatic. She was so excited that she refused to take her new hockey jersey off to go to sleep. 

“Come on Ry, you can’t sleep in that you have to wear pajamas so you’re comfortable,” Sara tried to persuade her to change out of the jersey. 

“No mama I don’t want to take it off,” Riley whined with a frown on her face. Sara gave her a pointed look but the small girl didn’t back down. She just crossed her arms over her chest and continued to frown at Sara. 

“Riley,” Sara said with a stern voice and Riley’s face dropped. She knew she was going to be in trouble if she didn’t change into her pajamas but that didn’t make her do it. “Riley, get ready for bed now, you have school in the morning.”

Riley still refused to move. She stood with her arms still folded over her chest in the corner of the room. 

“I don’t want to, I want to wear this to bed.”

“Riley do as you’re told.”

“No.”

“Don’t make me bring in the big guns, she won’t be happy when she finds out you aren’t in bed by seven,” Sara said and Riley’s eyes widened slightly. She dropped her hands to her side and sauntered over to her bed and quickly changed into her pajamas. “Thank you, do you want to pick the book or should I?”

“You,” Riley mumbled as she tried to get comfy under the covers. 

Sara grabbed a random book from the shelf and sat down beside Riley and began to read it to her. The small girl fell asleep before Sara was even halfway through the book. 

“Night Ry Ry, I love you,” Sara whispered before kissing her forehead. 

She left the room, closing the door behind her and headed downstairs to join Ava on the couch. 

“Is she okay? You were up there a while,” Ava asked slightly worried. 

“Everything’s fine, she just wouldn’t change out of that hockey jersey. I almost had to call in the big guns to help out,” Sara teased with a small smile on her face but Ava just rolled her eyes playfully. 

“The big guns huh? She sounds pretty intimidating.”

“She likes to think she is, but she’s really just a big softie,” Sara said with a smirk on her face, but the smirk fell from her lips when she remembered that she wanted to talk with Ava about something. “I know we haven’t spoken about second names after we’re married, and I just wanted to make sure you’re okay after my dad only put Lance on the back of Ry’s shirt, it-”

“Of course I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?” Ava questioned. 

“Because he didn’t put your last name on it too, what if we hyphenated it?” Sara suggested and Ava shook her head. 

“No, I like the idea of being called Lance. It means something, Sharpe is just a fake name that Rip gave me it means nothing to me. And we are definitely not hyphenating them, that would sound ridiculous.”

“Are you sure? I could even just take your name and we could all be Sharpes, we could make it mean something to you,” Sara suggested and Ava shook her head again. 

“I am so sure and as sweet as it is, I would much rather take your name. Besides Ava Lance has a nice ring to it,” Ava smiled as she said the name. 

“I agree, Ava Lance sounds great.”


	15. Fifteen

After they arrived home from the mini-vacation in Napa Valley, their wedding date was getting closer and closer. Almost everything was planned and paid for, they just had a few small details to complete, but they could be done much closer to the actual wedding date, and that didn’t stop Ava from stressing out about them. 

However, Ava was able to push those worries aside for a few days because it was coming up to Riley’s birthday. 

Her first birthday with them, and she was beyond excited. 

They had a birthday party planned for her, all of her friends were coming to the party, as well as all of the Legends, Laurel, Quentin and Felicity, Oliver and William. 

“Mommy, is it my birthday yet?” Riley asked as she pushed her food around her plate. The three of them were sitting around the table eating dinner.

“Soon, if you finish your dinner you can have a quick bath and then mama will read you a bedtime story and then before you know it, it will be your birthday,” Ava said and Riley stopped pushing her food around and actually started to eat it. 

“Is Aunt Laurel coming to my party still?” Riley asked with hopeful eyes. She hadn’t seen her since she joined her and Quentin for dinner when Sara and Ava were in Napa Valley, and she missed her aunt. 

“Of course she is baby, she’s coming over in the morning so you have to wait a little bit to open your gifts because she wants to see you open them too. Is that okay?” Sara asked and Riley nodded her head slowly. 

“Can we have cake for breakfast like we did for mommy’s birthday? Please, please, please,” Riley pleaded as she looked between the two women opposite her. 

“I don’t see why not, you are the birthday girl after all,” Ava said after a few moments of her debating internally whether to agree to cake for breakfast. 

After that Riley finally finished eating her dinner so Ava took her upstairs so she could have a bath whilst Sara cleaned up the kitchen. Once she was squeaky clean Ava lifted her out of the bath and handed her some fresh pajamas to change into. 

“Do you want your hair braided?” Ava asked. 

Riley nodded her head happily, “yes please, can you do the fancy one?”

Ava hummed in agreement and began to braid her soft blonde locks. Her hair was just past her shoulders so it didn’t take long to do when she was finished she lifted her up to the mirror so she could see the braids. 

“Thank you, mommy.”

“Wow look at you!” Sara said from the doorway. She was leaning against the doorframe as she watched Riley inspecting the braids intently in the mirror. “Are you ready for bed monkey?”

“I’m not tired, can I stay awake longer?” Riley asked hopefully. 

Sara was about to say yes but she glanced over the top of Riley’s head at Ava who was shaking her head and mouthing something to her. She quickly got the hint and shook her head at the small girl. 

“No baby, you have to sleep because then your birthday will be here quicker and then you can have cake for breakfast,” Sara said and that was all she needed to convince the small girl to go to bed. 

She ran out of the room into her own bedroom and settled down into bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. She grabbed a random book from the shelf and began to read it to her, making sure to do the different voices for all of the different characters; the way that Riley liked. She fell asleep pretty quickly and the two women kissed the top of Riley’s forehead before leaving the room and heading downstairs. 

“I’m going to the store, do we need anything?” Sara questioned from where she was sat on the bottom step putting her shoes on.

“Why are you going to the store?” Ava asked with a confused expression on her face. 

“To get a cake for tomorrow morning, we can’t eat the one that we already have that’s for the party,” Sara said.

“No, we’re gonna make one, I bought all of the ingredients yesterday.”

“Oh, okay,” Sara removed her shoes and left them at the bottom of the stairs before following Ava into the kitchen. Ava was moving around the room gathering all of the ingredients together.

“Do you wanna help?” Ava questioned once she had everything out and ready. Sara nodded her head and grabbed an apron from the large drawer near the sink. 

“Okay, what do you need me to do?” Sara asked as she glanced over at the recipe that Ava was looking at on her phone. 

“Could you measure out the flour and grab some eggs for me please?”

Sara nodded her head and got to work, she measured out the flour (spilling it all over the countertops and herself in the process).

“What now?”

Ava told her the next steps but ended up doing them all herself, not giving Sara the chance to do anything. She expected it though, Ava needed it to be perfect and truth be told Sara wasn’t the best baker ever. Simply because she didn’t have much experience doing it, with everything that happened after the gambit and now she just had Gideon fabricate whatever she wanted; so there was no point in learning to do it herself. 

“What are you doing?” Ava frowned when she noticed Sara sitting down on the barstool opposite her just watching Ava mix everything together. 

“It’s not really a two-person job so I’ll just watch you do your thing,” Sara smirked and Ava nodded her head before getting back to work. 

“You can decorate it,” Ava said without looking up from the bowl that she was mixing everything together in. Sara just nodded her head and continued to watch Ava bake. 

The cake didn’t take long to make and it was soon time for Sara to decorate the cake. She joined Ava at the other side of the counter and stared down at the perfectly round cake. 

“Well this looks better than the one Riley and I made for your birthday,” Sara chuckled, the cake looked like something from a professional baking show. She admired it for a moment before slapping some buttercream on the top of the cake. She then added a layer of icing and smoothed it out (only tearing it a few times, leaving Ava to fix it).

“That looks good, here you go,” Ava said as she handed a small piping bag to Sara so that she could add some writing to the top of the cake. She wrote ‘Happy Birthday Riley’ in bright red icing. It was a little messy and it looked like a five-year-old had done it but Sara just shrugged her shoulders. 

“You probably should have done that part too,” Sara said as the two of them took a step back to look at the cake properly. 

“I don’t think she’s gonna care what is on it, I think she’s too excited to be able to have cake for breakfast,” Ava said and Sara nodded her head in agreement. She moved into Ava’s side and wrapped her arm around her waist before slipping her hand into Ava’s back pocket. 

Ava moved away from her and covered the cake up before moving back to Sara’s side. She leaned against the counter and Sara wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist and rested her head against her chest. 

“I can’t believe she’s gonna be six tomorrow, we’re going to be parents to a six-year-old,” Sara said in slight disbelief. 

She thought back to the first time she met Riley, the day she showed up on the Waverider she was a terrified little girl, she wouldn’t leave Ava’s side. It took her a little while to completely trust Sara and Ava but she did eventually and once she was comfortable around them, they found out what an amazing person she is. 

“I know, this year has gone so fast and I know we of all people should know that time is relative but it’s gone so quickly,” Ava said.

“But it means we’re getting closer to the day that we can finally adopt her,” Sara mumbled into Ava’s chest and the taller woman nodded her head with an excited smile on her face. 

“I cannot wait for that day.”

“Me neither.”

Sara pulled away from Ava and helped the taller woman clean up the kitchen before the two of them put all of Riley’s birthday gifts from the two of them in the corner of the living room.

“We should probably go to bed soon,” Sara said when she noticed that it was almost midnight, “I have a feeling she is gonna want to be up early.”

*****

The next morning Ava’s alarm went off at 6:30 am sharp. She quickly rolled over to turn it off when she laid there for a few seconds before getting out of bed. Sara didn’t move, instead, she just watched her fiancée move around the room until she eventually got out of bed when she realized it was Riley’s birthday. 

The two women headed across the hallway to Riley’s room, they opened the door slightly and looked through to find that she was already up and awake. She was sitting in the middle of her bedroom floor playing with her dolls. 

“There’s the birthday girl,” Sara said as she snuck up behind Riley and scooped her up into her arms. “Happy birthday baby.” Sara peppered Riley’s face with kisses causing the now six-year-old to giggle.

“Happy birthday my little monkey,” Ava pressed a kiss to the top of Riley’s head. 

“Do we get cake now?” Riley asked excitedly. Ava nodded her head and the birthday girl started to wriggle in Sara’s arms. 

The three of them headed downstairs, Ava grabbed the cake and put six candles in it, she lit them and crouched down with the cake in her hands so that Riley could see it. Sara and Ava sang happy birthday to her before she blew out the candles. 

They sat around the kitchen table and ate the cake.

“Where is my birthday girl?” A voice came from the front door. Moments later Laurel walked around the corner with her arms full of gifts. Riley jumped up from her seat and hugged her aunt’s waist. “Happy birthday Riles.”

Laurel put the gifts in the living room with her other gifts, before joining them in the kitchen, where Ava handed her a slice of cake. 

“I didn’t expect you to be here this early,” Sara said to her sister. She glanced down at her phone to see the time that read 7:18 am. 

“I was going to be here for nine but I thought she would want to open her gifts,” Laurel explained and Riley’s eyes lit up at the mention of her birthday gifts. 

“Are you ready to open your gifts, honey?” Ava asked and Riley nodded her head before dashing away to sit on the floor in the living room. The three women joined her and Sara sat beside her on the floor while Laurel ate her cake on the couch and Ava snapped pictures of Riley opening her gifts. 

“How about you open this one first,” Sara handed a small box to Riley and she tore the lid off of it to reveal a bright orange bracelet that matched the ones that she had made Sara and Ava for their birthdays. She let out an excited gasp as she slipped it onto her wrist. 

Once the bracelet was secured on her wrist she continued to open her other gifts. She got a bunch of new dolls and action figures of her favorite superheroes. She also got some new coloring supplies which she was extremely excited about. But her favorite gift was her very own hockey stick that went along with her new hockey jersey that actually fit her. 

“Can we go and change into our costumes now?” Riley looked up at Sara with big blue eyes and Sara nodded her head. Riley jumped up from the floor and ran upstairs with Sara following closely behind.

“Which outfit are you wearing, Supergirl or Captain Marvel?” Sara questioned as she held up both outfits for Riley to choose from. She grabbed the Captain Marvel outfit from Sara’s hands and quickly changed into it. 

“Are you still wearing your costume mama?” Riley asked as Sara zipped the back of the costume up. 

“Of course baby, mommy and Aunt Laurel are too,” Sara said and Riley let out an excited squeal. “Hold still Ry it’s not zipped up.”

Sara quickly zipped it up and Riley did a small twirl to show off her outfit. “Wow look at you!” Ava exclaimed from the doorway. Sara had a huge smile on her face because of how excited Riley was over her outfit. However, the smile dropped off of her face and her jaw dropped open when she realized that Ava had already changed into her costume. 

“Oh my god,” Sara whispered before walking over to Ava. “You look so hot,” Sara’s arms snaked around Ava’s waist, she pressed a chaste kiss to her neck before remembering that Riley was right there. She pulled away and got a closer look at Ava’s outfit. 

“Do you like it?” Ava asked feeling a little self-conscious. She wasn’t used to her legs being out on show, she liked to wear pants. But Riley suggested that she dress up as Wonder Woman for the party and Ava couldn’t think of another hero so she agreed. 

“Like it? Baby, I love it you look incredible,” Sara stepped a little closer to her and lowered her voice. “And later tonight when Riley is asleep I’m gonna show you how much I love it,” Ava’s cheeks turned a dark pink color at Sara’s words. The smaller woman just stepped away from her with an innocent smile on her face. 

“Come on Aves we have a party to set up,” Sara said as she left the room. 

It didn’t take them long to make sure everything was perfect for Riley’s party. Quentin arrived an hour before the guests were set to arrive, like Laurel he had an armful of gifts for Riley. 

“Grandpa!” Riley said excitedly as he walked through the door. She began to run over to him but paused when she noticed that he wasn’t wearing a costume. 

“Happy birthday baby,” Quentin wrapped his granddaughter up in a huge hug. 

“I’m not a baby anymore, I’m six now,” Riley said with a pout on her face. Quentin just chuckled and scooped her into his arms and made his way over to Sara and Laurel at the table. 

“Hey dad,” Sara and Laurel said in unison. 

He pressed a kiss to the top of their heads before sitting down with Riley on his lap. “Where’s Ava?” He asked, confusion clear in his voice. It was a Saturday so he knew that she definitely wasn’t working and yet she was nowhere to be seen. 

“She’s in the backyard, making sure everything is perfect,” Sara said and Quentin nodded his head, he put Riley down on the empty chair next to him before leaving the room and mumbling something about going to help Ava. 

“What did I hear about you not being a baby anymore?” Sara questioned as she looked expectantly across the table at Riley. 

“I’m not a baby, I’m six now that’s big,” Riley said holding up six fingers to emphasize her point. 

“Well, no matter how big you are you’re still mine and mommy’s baby, even when you’re all grown up,” Sara said and Riley just frowned at her. 

“But I’m not a baby anymore, I just told you six is big.”

“I call mommy baby and she’s thirty-three, that’s even bigger than six, and grandpa still calls Aunt Laurel and me baby.”

“That’s silly, mommy isn’t a baby she’s too tall.”

Sara carried on trying to persuade Riley to let her use the nickname until the Legends arrived and the birthday girl lost interest in the conversation. Instead, she jumped off the chair and ran over to the team before launching herself into John’s arms. He quickly caught her and spun her around before putting her back on the ground. 

“Happy birthday pet,” John handed her a small box that wasn’t even wrapped up. “That’s from me and our Gary.”

Riley wasted money time getting into the box and she pulled out a wand that looked like it was straight from a Harry Potter movie. 

“Mama look!” Riley ran over to Sara and sat in her lap so that she could show her the wand. 

“That is so cool, you have to be careful with that we don’t want to go around turning people into frogs,” Sara said and Riley giggled. 

“Who’s turning people into frogs?” Ava questioned when she and Quentin finally joined everyone else in the kitchen. 

“Not me, I have to be careful with my wand,” Riley said with a huge grin on her face as she showed the wand to Ava. 

“Okay, how about we open your other gifts before your friends get here.”

Riley got to work in opening her gifts from the other legends. Nora and Ray got her a pair of ice-skating boots for when she is learning to play hockey, Zari got her a giant stuffed Lion, Charlie bought her a bunch of coloring books that had only pictures of Lions in them, and Nate bought her a bunch of books about history (most of them were about women in history) and Riley was so excited about them. 

“Can we read this one tonight? Please, please, please,” Riley pleaded, looking up at Sara and Ava with big round eyes as she held the book out in front of her for them both to see. 

“We can read whatever you want,” Sara said and she couldn’t contain the smile spreading across her face at how excited Riley was to read her new books. She watched Riley hand the book over to Ava and the two of them quickly flipped through it looking at all of the different people on the pages, and she only smiled more when she realized just how similar the two of them are. 

Before they could look at another book there was a loud knock at the front door, Nate quickly ran towards it and Felicity, Oliver and William all followed him into the apartment. Oliver was dressed in his Green Arrow gear (minus the arrows), William was dressed up as the Flash and Felicity was just wearing regular clothes with a red cape on. 

“Happy birthday sweetie,” Felicity said and she handed the perfectly wrapped gift she was holding to Riley. 

“Thank you,” she said softly before leaning into Ava’s side, she was getting a little shy. She had met Felicity before when she was over at Laurel’s place but she had never met Oliver or William before, and she was a little nervous around him in his Green Arrow outfit. She knew of the Green Arrow and she had seen him on TV and in pictures that Sara had shown her but seeing him up close in real life, scared her a little. 

“Happy birthday kiddo,” he crouched down in front of Riley but she backed away from him and hid behind Ava’s legs. 

“Hey, hey you’re okay sweetheart he’s a good guy, it’s okay,” Ava said as she crouched down and ran her fingers through Riley’s hair, in an attempt to calm her nerves. 

“Oliver take the hood down,” Felicity said through gritted teeth. He pulled the hood down and Riley could see his face, he wasn’t as scary to her now but she was still a little wary of him. 

Oliver was about to apologize but Riley bypassed him and wandered over to William who was standing beside Felicity. She looked up at him with her eyes full of wonder. 

“Are you the flash?” Riley questioned and he nodded his head causing her to let out an excited gasp. “I’m Captain Marvel, do you wanna color with me?” She questioned. 

“Sure why not,” William shrugged his shoulders and followed the small girl over to the coffee table where all of her new coloring books were. 

“Sorry about that,” Oliver said when the two of them were out of earshot. 

“It’s okay, she is sometimes a little wary of men because of her uncle,” Sara explained and Oliver nodded his head but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilty about scaring the girl. “I should probably go and change into my outfit, Aves can you come help me with it?” 

“Help you with it? Why do you need help you put it on, on your own every-” Ava stopped speaking when she looked at Sara, instead she just nodded her head and followed the woman upstairs. The second their bedroom door was closed behind them she pinned Ava up against the door and pulled her into a kiss. 

It was needy and a little messy and Sara’s hands were roaming all over Ava’s body. Until Ava grabbed onto Sara’s hands causing her to stop her movements as she pulled away from her. 

“We are not doing this right now,” Ava said with a raised eyebrow. 

“You look so hot though.”

“Thank you, but our daughter, your dad, your sister, and our friends are right below us, this can wait until tonight,” Ava waved her hand in the small space between them. Sara let out a defeated huff and moved over to the bed where her Canary outfit was laid out. She quickly changed into it before walking back over to Ava, she cupped the woman’s cheeks and brought their lips together in a soft kiss. 

When they finally made their way back downstairs most of Riley’s friends had already arrived. Everyone was out in the backyard, the kids were running around playing games and even William was joining in whenever Riley asked him if he wanted to. 

“Where did you guys go?” Laurel questioned with a raised brow. Ava sat down in the last empty chair and pulled Sara down onto her lap. “Actually don’t answer that, I don’t wanna know.”

“I went to change into my outfit,” Sara said but Laurel didn’t look convinced. “Anyway, who wants something to drink we have wine or juice boxes.” 

Everyone around the table asked for a juice box, but when Sara brought the drinks out she put a glass of wine down in front of Ava. 

“Drink it, baby, you’re stressed out,” Sara said and Ava didn’t need much convincing. She grabbed the glass and took a few sips of the red wine. 

The party was going very well, Zari ended up being roped into one of the games and she tried to say no but Riley did the puppy eyes and the totem bearer couldn’t say no. When Zari joined the table again, the kids decided to play tag; that didn’t end so well. One of the girls were running and didn’t notice the change in flooring from grass to concrete slabs, she tripped over the small step and slid across the floor. 

“Hey, hey you’re okay, let’s take a look at that knee,” Sara said the second she was by the girl’s side. She had a large cut on her knee and her hands and elbows were scraped and a little bloody. “We need to go inside and patch this up, do you want me to carry you or do you think you can walk?”

“Carry me please,” the small girl said and Sara nodded her head before scooping the small girl up into her arms. She took her inside and sat her down on the kitchen counter. 

“Are you okay?” Riley questioned from Sara’s side, she was so quiet that Sara almost didn’t notice her there.

“She’s gonna be okay we just need a bandaid and something to clean the cut,” Sara explained and Riley just nodded her head but stayed close to her friend. 

Sara grabbed the first aid kit from one of the kitchen cabinets and found the things that she needed. She cleaned the cut and put a SpongeBob SquarePants bandaid over it and carefully placed the girl back on the floor. 

“Is that better?”

“Mhmm, thank you,” the girl said softly before walking away with Riley. “Your mom is a superhero, that’s so cool,” Sara heard her say before they were back outside, a small smile worked its way onto her face when she heard her. 

Shortly after that, the kids ate some food before it was finally time to have some cake. Everyone gathered around Riley and sang happy birthday to her and the whole time she had the biggest smile on her face. 

“Make a wish,” Ava whispered before Riley blew out the candles. Sara cut up the cake into perfect pieces for each kid, and cut bigger slices for the adults. 

Before the kids had the cake they seemed to be tiring out a little but the cake only seemed to give them more energy. Luckily for Sara and Ava, most of the parents came to pick them up, once all of Riley’s friends had gone home Ava began to clean up the garden. 

“Ava sit down, we can do that tomorrow,” Sara said but the director ignored her and carried on cleaning up. “Ava,” Sara said again but Ava ignored her once again. She leaned down and whispered something in Riley’s ear before the small girl hopped off of Sara’s lap and ran over to Ava. 

“Mommy can we cuddle, I’m cold,” Riley said tugging on Ava’s hand.

“Of course sweetie, I’ll go and get you a blanket, do you want to change out of those clothes too?” Ava questioned and Riley just shook her head and walked back over to Sara, she held her hand out for a hi-five and the small girl hit her hand against her moms excitedly. Ava returned with an armful of blankets for anyone that wanted one, and she finally sat down with the others and pulled Riley onto her lap wrapping her up in a giant blanket. 

“Is that better?” Ava questioned softly and Riley nodded her head and snuggled into Ava’s embrace. “Did you have fun today?” 

“So much fun, Noah was jealous because I have superhero moms,” Riley giggled. 

“I don’t know about both of us being superheroes, mama is definitely one though,” Ava said softly, as she glanced over at Sara with a smile on her face before looking back down at Riley. 

“You’re a superhero too mommy because you saved me,” Riley said, Ava’s eyes immediately filled with tears she managed to hold them back but Sara noticed them. 

“Hey are you okay?” She questioned her blue eyes full of concern. 

“I’m good, I’ll tell you later.”

And with that Sara turned her attention back to her conversation with Felicity and Laurel. 

“Mommy I think we should get a puppy,” Riley said all of a sudden. Clearly not understanding the weight of what she had just said to Ava. 

“You do huh? I don’t think we can honey,” Ava said and as soon as she said that Riley looked up at her with a frown on her face. 

“Why not? I would take care of it, I would take it on walks before and after school and I would be it’s best friend,” she explained but Ava just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“Where is this coming from?”

“My friend has a dog that had like a million puppies so I think we should get one. Why can’t we get one?” 

“Because we’re so busy honey, I’m at work all day and so is mama, it would be lonely and sad all day and that’s not fair,” Ava explained and it seemed to work for a moment until an idea sparked in Riley’s head. 

“I could take it to school with me, it could hide in my backpack and play outside at recess.”

“I’m sorry Ry, we can’t get a puppy, think of another animal and we might think about it,” Ava said. 

“Really?” Riley exclaimed. 

“I said we will think about it this is not a definite yes, we have to speak about it as a family when you come up with an idea okay?” Ava questioned and Riley nodded her head. 

For the rest of the night Riley was searching for ‘good pets’ on Ava’s phone. She kept showing her pictures of the most random animals, at one point she held up a picture of a Starfish and asked if they could have one. 

Later that night when everyone had gone home, Sara and Ava were trying to put Riley to bed but everytime they tried she just listed another animal to them. 

“Ry go to sleep baby, we can discuss this another time,” Sara said but Riley just continued to think of new animals. 

“What if we put two animals together so we have a lions head on a giraffes body, that would be so cool,” Riley said excitedly. 

“That would definitely not be cool imagine that running around the house it would hit its head on the ceiling,” Sara said. 

“We would just get taller ceilings so that it wouldn’t hit its head, or we could just live outside so there is no ceiling.”

“How about you and your animal live outside and mommy and I will stay inside and throw food out to you every once in a while. Does that sound good?”

Riley laughed loudly, she rolled around on the bed clutching her stomach because it hurt from laughing too much. 

“I can’t live outside, it might snow and I would be cold,” Riley said with a pout on her lips. 

“How about you sleep in your bed and think of an animal in your dreams that you don’t have to sleep outside for. Like a fish or something,” Sara finally convinced her to sleep. She nodded her head and closed her eyes, her face was still scrunched up as she tried to think of more animals. Sara quickly kissed her head and went downstairs to help Ava finish cleaning up. 

“That kid is so stubborn sometimes I swear,” Sara sighed as she picked up the last trash bag and threw it into the garbage can. The two of them quickly finished up outside and moved to sit on the couch. 

“Mhmm, I wonder where she gets that from,” Ava teased. 

“You probably.”

“I’m not stubborn,” Ava said but it almost sounded like a whine. 

“Okay whatever you say baby,” Sara whispered and kissed her nose. “Now that everything is cleared away what do you say we go upstairs and finish what we started earlier?” Sara suggested with a smirk on her face. 

“I like your thinking miss lance, lead the way.”

Sara wasted no time in tugging Ava up from the couch and pulling her upstairs to their bedroom.


	16. sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for the Avalance wedding!! This chapter is pure fluff

With every passing day, the wedding was getting closer and closer, and with each passing day, Ava was getting more nervous. The day before she was a nervous wreck, she checked every little detail for the day was perfect; over and over and over. Until it drove Sara a little crazy. 

“Hey, is everything okay?” Ava questioned from behind her desk. The second she saw Laurel walk into her office, her heart skipped a beat her mind immediately thinking something had happened to Sara. 

“Yeah everything is great, you and I are going out you need to do something about this stress. You need to be able to enjoy your big day,” Laurel said as she sat down in the armchair opposite Ava’s desk. 

“I can’t, I have too much work to do, we’re gonna be away for almost two weeks I need to make sure everything is done,” Ava said turning her attention back to the paperwork in front of her. 

“You are the boss Ava, just give it to someone else to do, come on.”

“I can’t just give it to someone else to do, I have a certain way to do it, other people won’t-” 

“You have half an hour and then we’re leaving.” 

“You aren’t gonna leave until I agree to join you are you?” Ava looked at her sister-in-law with narrowed eyes. 

“Nope.”

“Fine.”

“Yay, also we’re gonna need to stop at your place to get you some clothes, you’re staying with me tonight it’s bad luck to see each other before the wedding,” Laurel said as she moved to sit on the couch in the corner of the room. 

“I suppose it is, let me just call Sara and let her know,” Ava said, she was slightly mad at herself for not thinking of that.

Ava quickly finished her paperwork and Laurel practically dragged her out of her office, because every time they went to leave the room Ava discovered some little thing that needed to be put away. 

It took a while but she was able to get Ava out of the office and back to her apartment. 

“I really needed this, thank you, Laur,” Ava said with a soft smile on her face. 

The two of them were sitting on Laurel’s couch wrapped up in blankets watching Ava’s favorite movie. 

“It’s no problem, you are my sister after all. Besides you were stressing yourself out so much that I was sure you were gonna combust if you didn’t relax soon, and that wouldn’t be a good look for your wedding day,” Laurel chuckled. 

“It would not.”

*****

Later that evening Sara was laid in bed about to drift off to sleep when she felt something tap her cheek. She opened her right eye and saw Riley standing there clutching her stuffed Simba to her chest. 

“You okay baby?” Sara asked, her voice was laced with tiredness. 

“I had a bad dream,” Riley said quietly and Sara hated how sad she sounded. Sara quickly sat up and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. She was about to reach out and pull Riley into a hug, but she stopped herself when she remembered that Riley hated being touched after she had a nightmare. 

Sara shuffled over towards Ava’s side of the bed, she pushed the covers back and patted the empty space beside her. “Come here, do you wanna talk about it?”

Riley immediately crawled into bed beside Sara. She sat there staring down at the stuffed animal in her lap with a slight frown on her face. 

“Do you want a hug? Would that make you feel better?” 

“I think so, Simba isn’t very good at cuddles,” Riley mumbled immediately leaning into Sara’s open arms. Sara wrapped her arms around the small girl and gently squeezed her. 

“He’s not? Well, I think we should get rid of him and change him for something that is good at cuddles,” Sara teased causing Riley to giggle. 

“No, I like cuddling you and mommy way better.”

“Well that’s good because you’re never gonna escape our cuddles even when you’re all grown up,” Sara said softly and Riley’s smile grew even bigger. “Now we’ve established that, do you want to talk about your bad dream?”

“I don’t know, it might scare you, it was pretty scary,” Riley said and Sara looked down at the girl with a slightly worried face. Not because she thought it would be scary, but because it clearly bothered the small girl enough that she thought Sara would find it scary. 

“You know what I think I’ll be able to handle it because you’re here and we have Simba to protect us, he’s a big scary lion he can handle anything for us,” Sara said making Riley smile again. She nodded her head and positioned Simba so that he was sitting facing the door as if he was guarding the two of them. 

“Okay, I had a dream that I was playing hockey, but I was alone and I was about to score and then a shark popped up through the ice and ate me,” Riley explained, she made an explosion noise when she said that the shark popped through the ice. 

“Oh wow, you’re right that is pretty scary, but I promise you a shark is never going to eat you, how about you try and get some sleep and I’ll make sure that the shark doesn’t come back?” Sara suggested and Riley nodded her head. 

The two of them laid down, Riley was half sprawled on top of Sara and half on the bed. Sara wrapped her arms around her to reassure her that she was okay. 

“But what if I have the same dream?” 

“You won’t baby, I’ll protect you from it, come on try and sleep we have a busy day tomorrow,” Sara mumbled before she turned out the light. Riley nodded and settled down, she buried her face in the crook of Sara’s neck and let out a content sigh. 

Sara was about to fall asleep once again until Riley spoke. 

“Are you and mommy fighting?” Riley questioned, her voice was soft and full of worry. 

“No baby what makes you think that?”

“She’s not here, my friend’s mommy and daddy are fighting and she says that they don’t share a bedroom anymore and her dad sleeps on the couch and sometimes he doesn’t come home for like a hundred days,” Riley explained. 

“No, no, we aren’t fighting at all Ry. Remember when it was mommy’s birthday and you got the new dress and you said it was bad luck to show it to her?” Riley nodded her head against Sara’s neck. “It's exactly like that, we’re getting married tomorrow and it’s bad luck for us to see each other before the ceremony.”

“Oh, okay, but she didn’t say goodbye to me, is it bad luck for me to see her too?” 

“It is,” Sara lied, Riley sounded so upset about Ava leaving for the night without saying goodbye to her so she just told a little white lie to make her feel better. “You’re wearing a new dress too, it would be such bad luck for her to see you, and we can’t have the girl with the most important job to have bad luck can we?” 

“Nope, is it really the most important job?”

“Mhmm, it wouldn’t be a real wedding if we didn’t have the rings,” Sara mumbled. 

“Oh, so does that mean I have to be extra careful with them?”

“It does baby, don’t worry Grandpa is gonna help you with them.”

“Okay, but what if I drop them by accident?”

“You won’t baby, I promise. Ry this is supposed to be something fun, don’t second guess yourself, it’s going to be fine all you have to do is hand the rings to mommy and me. Just like we practiced okay?” Sara said and she felt Riley nod her head against her neck. “Go to sleep, we have to be up early.”

“Night mama, I love you to infinity and beyond,” Riley whispered.

“I love you so much,” Sara whispered back and moments later she heard Riley’s breathing even out, indicating that she was finally asleep. 

The next morning Sara woke up at 7 am to her alarm blaring on the nightstand beside her. She blindly reached her arm out to turn it off before settling back into bed. Except when she tried to roll onto her back she was stopped by the feeling of a small foot pressing against her lower back. 

She decided to stay laid on her side until her alarm went off again. This time she really did have to get up. She sat at the edge of the bed and slipped her feet into her pink fluffy slippers before walking to the bathroom. 

She quickly did her usual morning routine before going back into the bedroom to wake Riley up. She shook her slightly, and the small girl just rolled over and buried her face into the pillow. 

“Riley come on we gotta get up,” Sara said as she shook her slightly again. 

“I’m sleepy,” she mumbled into the pillow. 

“I know baby, but we don’t have time to just stay in bed, you need to have breakfast, have a bath and then get ready and then I need to do all of that myself, so come on get up,” Sara said and Riley finally sat up on the bed. Her hair was a mess and she looked tired. 

“Can you carry me?” She asked looking up at Sara with big round eyes. Sara nodded her head and lifted her up into her arms. She had her legs wrapped around her waist, her arms were wrapped loosely around her neck while her head rested on her shoulder. 

“You’re getting too big for this baby,” Sara said softly as they made their way downstairs. 

“I’m not, I’m still small,” Riley said. 

“Oh so now you decide you’re still small when you wanna be carried but when I call you baby suddenly you’re all grown up, huh?” Sara playfully rolled her eyes at the young girl in her arms. 

“No it’s okay you can call me baby, mommy said it’s just a nickname like how you call me Ry, I know I’m not actually a baby I’m way too big to be a baby.”

Sara nodded her head and started preparing breakfast for the two of them. Riley decided that she wanted lucky charms for breakfast and who was Sara to say no to her cute little pouty face. Ava didn’t usually let her have such sugary foods but, Ava wasn’t there to stop them so Sara ignored all of the rules for one day and joined her daughter at the table as they ate their incredibly sugary breakfast. 

“Do you think the other cereals feel upset because the marshmallow ones are my favorite?” Riley asked as she stared down at the small cereal pieces floating around the milk. 

“Oh, I don’t know maybe, but they probably think that the marshmallow ones are the best too,” Sara said as she glanced over at her daughter with a soft smile. Every time Riley came out with a statement like that both she and Ava couldn’t control their smiles. They both thought it was the cutest thing in the world. 

Before Riley could comment further a portal opened up behind them and Laurel stepped through, with an excited smile on her face. 

“Aunt Laurel!” Riley exclaimed. She jumped up from her seat and ran over to Laurel, she wrapped her arms tightly around the woman’s waist before she ran back to the table to finish her breakfast. 

“Hey honey,” Laurel said as she joined the two of them at the table. “How are you? Are you nervous?”

“I’m good, I’m excited. I feel like we’ve been talking about this day our entire lives, I mean remember when we were younger and we had fake weddings? We were so excited for the day one of us got married and it’s finally here, I can’t wait to be able to call her my wife,” Sara said and the excitement was clear in her eyes. They were bright and happier than Laurel had ever seen them. 

“I’m excited for you, I mean you’re both already basically married,” Laurel said with a smile on her face. 

“How’s Ava this morning? I texted her but she hasn’t replied yet.”

“I think she’s a little nervous. I woke up this morning to her stress cleaning my entire kitchen,” Laurel paused for a moment when she saw the worry creep onto Sara’s face, “she’s fine though, she’s with Nora and Nate they’re taking her out for breakfast and then they’re going to the hotel so she can get ready.”

“Okay good, and speaking of getting ready. Ry come on you need a bath before you can wear your dress.”

With that, the three of them headed upstairs to start getting ready for the big day. Laurel helped Sara with her hair and makeup. She had dark eye makeup that made her eyes look an even brighter shade of blue. Her hair was in a low bun, with two strands of loose hair framing her face. 

“You look beautiful Sara,” Laurel whispered when she walked back into the room to see her little sister in her wedding dress. 

The dress was fairly simple, it had thin straps that went over her shoulders. It had a low v neckline, that showed off the perfect amount of cleavage. And the bottom half of the dress was lace and it had a small train. 

She didn’t want a big wedding dress, she tried so many on but they just weren’t her. She was drawn to the simpler dresses, and the dress she ended up going for was simple but beautiful. 

“Are you sure I look okay?” Sara asked suddenly feeling insecure about herself. 

“Sara you look gorgeous, Ava will probably faint when she sees you,” Laurel chuckled. 

Moments later Riley wandered into the room. The second she saw Sara she let out a soft gasp before she squealed excitedly. 

“Mama you look super pretty!” Riley exclaimed. She walked in a circle around Sara so that she could see the dress properly. “You look like a princess, wait no! You look like a Queen.”

“Thank you, baby,” Sara whispered, that was all the confirmation that she needed to know that the dress was absolutely perfect. “Come on you need to change into your dress so you can look like a princess.”

With that Laurel helped Riley change into her dress before going to get ready herself. Sara was waiting for the two of them in the living room, she was leaning against the arm of the couch, she didn’t want to sit down because she was afraid it would ruin the dress. 

“Wow look at you! You look beautiful,” Sara said when she noticed Riley walking down the stairs. Her comment earned a hug grin from her daughter. Shortly after Laurel joined the two of them and Sara was equally as excited at how beautiful her sister looked. 

The three of them waited for Quentin to join them at the apartment so that Sara could open a portal for them to go to the venue. 

“Sorry I’m late traffic was a night-” the words died in Quentin’s throat when he saw his daughter in her wedding dress. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes when he pulled Sara into a hug, but he managed to keep it together. That was until Laurel and Riley stood up from the couch and he could get a proper look at them. “Look at you all! You all look beautiful, my babies are all grown up.”

The tears finally fell from his eyes when he looked at the three of them standing beside one another. Laurel and Sara both had tears in their eyes, but they managed to keep them at bay so their makeup wasn’t ruined. Riley, on the other hand, was looking up at her grandpa with the biggest smile on her face. 

“Okay we should probably go, Ava will freak out if you’re late,” Laurel said and Sara nodded her head in agreement. She opened a portal to the hotel and the four of them stepped through. 

Meanwhile, at the hotel, Ava was freaking out a little.

“Everything is gonna work out right? We have checked everything and checked it again, nothing is gonna go wrong,” Ava said more to herself than anyone else.

“Aves, everything is going to be perfect, would you please try to relax and enjoy your day, you’re only gonna get to do this once,” Nora said as she came to stand behind Ava, she looked at her through the mirror and saw her best friend visibly relax at her words. 

“Nora’s right. You need to enjoy this, everything is gonna be perfect,” Nate tried to help calm her down. 

Ava took a deep breath before she nodded her head, “you’re right, it’s going to be perfect.”

With that, the process of getting ready began, her makeup and hair were done pretty quickly. Her makeup was light and natural-looking because she wasn’t a big fan of wearing a lot of makeup she didn’t like how it made her skin feel. Her hair was in loose curls, with one side in a dutch braid. 

Once all of that was done she could finally change into her outfit. Originally she had planned on wearing a dress, but she tried on so many different ones and hated them all. She felt so uncomfortable and in the end, she gave up on dresses and started to look at suits. 

That’s how she found the black three-piece suit. The second she tried it on she knew that it was the one, she was able to picture herself wearing it as she got married to the love of her life. Which is something she struggled to see when she was trying the dresses. 

Nate and Nora left the room to let Ava change into the suit. They took that time to change into their own outfits, before coming back to Ava’s room. 

“Wow you look great, Sara’s jaw is going to be on the floor when she sees you,” Nora said, she took a step back so that she could take in her best friends outfit before stepping forward again to help her fix the tie. “How are you feeling? You nervous?” 

“I’m terrified, I’m scared I’m going to mess it up, but I’m excited too I get to marry the love of my life today,” Ava said and the excitement was clear in her eyes. 

“You aren’t going to mess anything up, I’m pretty sure you know your vows by heart nothing is going to go wrong,” Nate reassured her and she nodded her head in agreement before her hands flew to her pocket to double-check that she had brought her vows with her. 

“Okay, yeah you’re right. But are you sure I shouldn’t have worn a dress? What if she’s expecting me to be wearing a dress and she’s disappointed?” Ava’s thoughts were starting to spiral. 

“Ava stop second-guessing yourself, Sara won’t care what you’re wearing. You could walk down the aisle wearing a Beebo costume and she would still think you’re the most beautiful person in the room, besides she knows that you don’t really like dresses,” Nora said and it seemed to help stop Ava’s negative thoughts. 

“Okay, we should probably go I don’t want to be late to my own wedding,” Ava let out a nervous chuckle before the three of them left the room and headed downstairs to the lobby.

They headed outside towards where the wedding was being held. Everything was set up beautifully with the Californian mountains acting as a backdrop for the ceremony, the chairs were laid out in perfectly symmetrical rows and most of the guests were already sitting in them waiting for the brides to arrive. 

“I can do this, I know everybody sitting out there, everything is going to be fine,” Ava mumbled to herself. She was also getting frustrated with herself for being so nervous about the whole thing. She’s the director of the Time Bureau for Christ’s sake, her job involves standing up in front of large groups of people and talking to them every day.

But this. This was very different from that, she wasn’t going to be barking orders out to the people in the crowd, they were going to witness her and Sara’s love and they were going to see a vulnerable side to Ava that not many people saw. 

And that thought alone terrified her to no end. 

“Laurel is almost here with Riley, she just texted to say that they were just leaving the lobby,” Nora said and Ava nodded her head, still trying to calm the nerves that were building within her. 

Moments later, Riley appeared from around the corner. She ran over to Ava and launched herself into the latter’s arms. 

“You look so pretty Ry,” Ava whispered as she wrapped her arms around her daughter. The hug helped calm her nerves a little, until Laurel held the basket full of petals out in front of Riley and Ava knew that this was real and their wedding was about to begin and she had to push the nerves down and walk down the aisle. “Remember how we practiced this?” Ava questioned, referring to Riley scattering the flowers down the aisle.

“Mhmm, don’t just throw them all in one place,” Riley said and Ava nodded her head. 

The small girl turned away from Ava and made her way down the aisle once the soft piano sounds began. She did exactly as they practiced as she scattered petals on the floor. Once she made it to the end and the basket was empty she paused and turned to look back at Ava before giving her the thumbs up. Ava couldn't help but laugh.

Next Nora and Laurel both walked down the aisle to the end and stood in their places. 

“Are you ready?” Nate questioned. Ava nodded her head and slipped her arm under his. “Let’s go get you married,” he said before they finally began to walk down the aisle. Towards the end she noticed Dot on the second row, she had tears in her eyes already and the whole thing hadn’t properly started. 

Everything settled down for a moment as Ava stood beside Nora. Then Sara began to walk down the aisle with her dad by her side.

The second Ava laid her eyes on her she couldn’t stop the tears that were threatening to spill. She looked perfect, but then again Ava always thought Sara looked perfect; even without the fancy hair and makeup. 

Their eyes didn’t leave one another from the moment Sara began walking towards her. They both had tears in their eyes and everything felt so surreal. 

“You look so beautiful,” Sara whispered once she was standing in front of Ava their hands joined between them. 

Ray was officiating the wedding and he began the whole process of the ceremony after the two women had fully taken in the fact that they were about to be married. He went through the whole thing, adding his own touches here and there, which made everyone laugh. 

“And now, I believe that you have both prepared your own vows,” Ray said and the two women nodded their heads. Ava quickly got a piece of paper from her pocket and carefully unfolded it before she began to read the words aloud. 

“When we first met, we couldn’t stand each other. You infuriated me to no end, but then something twisted and I quickly realized that my feelings towards you had changed, every time I was around you I had butterflies in my stomach, which was something I had never felt until I met you and that terrified me. Emotions have always been a very difficult thing for me, but you, Sara, you have helped me navigate my way through them and not only that you have taught me so many things over the past few years, but the most important thing is, you taught me how to love, and that is the best feeling in the entire world. Being able to wake up every day and take on life by your side is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Ava paused for a moment, she reached out her hand to Sara’s face and gently wiped the stray tear away with her thumb. 

She quickly glanced down at the piece of paper in her slightly trembling hands before she continued with her vows. 

“I vow to love you no matter what, I vow to be by your side through everything, it doesn’t matter how challenging or how scary it is I will be there. For better or worse, through sickness and in health, I will be by your side for every moment, happy or sad; because you’re my best friend, my soulmate, the love of my life and I cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Sara tried her best to keep the tears at bay, but she failed. Ava’s words caused a few tears to spill and roll down her cheeks. But she didn’t take her eyes off of Ava the entire time, the soft smile remained on her face and she looked at Ava with so much love in her eyes that she didn’t even realize she was capable of. 

“I don’t know how I’m going to top that,” Sara said with a watery chuckle. Ava wiped the tears away for her once again before Sara turned to Laurel and took a piece of paper from her hand. 

“Here goes,” Sara whispered to herself. “Ava, I’ve been through a lot of things in my life and at one point I believed that I was unlovable. I believed that there was no redeeming what I had done in my past until you came along. You showed me that just because bad things happened in the past, they don’t have to dictate our future. You showed me that no matter how dark my past is I can have something happy and something real and you’re right because from the moment you saved me from Mallus’ realm you have made me happier than I have ever been in my entire life.”

This time it was Ava’s turn to try and control the waterworks. Her eyes were filling up with tears at Sara’s words, she widened her eyes slightly and looked up to prevent them from falling. She managed to blink them away and she looked back at Sara, who was looking at her like she had put the stars in the sky. 

Sara gently squeezed Ava’s hand before she carried on speaking. “Aves, I promise that I am going to make you feel like a Queen every day because that is how you deserve to be treated. I will make sure that you know that you’re loved and that you know just how amazing you are. I promise to love you through the good days and bad days because you’re who I want to wake up to every morning for the rest of my life. I love you so much, Ava.”

With that Ray cleared his throat and not so subtly wiped his eyes before carrying on with the ceremony. Riley excitedly ran over to them with the rings when Ray asked for them.

The two of them took the rings from Riley and slipped them onto one another’s fingers. They decided on matching plain silver bands because neither of them was into things that were flashy. 

“You may kiss your bride,” Ray said with an excited smile. 

Sara gently grabbed onto Ava’s face and pulled her close. She closed the gap between them as their lips joined in what began as a soft kiss until Sara wrapped her arms around Ava’s back and dipped her while deepening the kiss. 

They pulled away from one another after a few moments when they remembered there was an audience watching them. Sara helped Ava regain her balance and she laced their fingers together before they walked back down the aisle. This time hand in hand with matching grins on their faces. 

“Can you believe we’re finally married,” Sara said softly as they walked hand in hand to where they were going to have some pictures taken. 

“It feels like a dream, I don’t know why I was so nervous everything was perfect,” Ava responded with a dreamy smile on her face. 

Sara hummed in response. 

They had a bunch of pictures taken, Riley joined in for a couple, so did Quentin and Laurel and then the Legends joined them. 

After that, they all headed to the after-party. It was held in one of the reception rooms in the hotel. Everyone ate and had a few drinks before people started to get on the dance floor. 

Sara and Ava had their first dance to ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love,’ which was performed by the actual Elvis Presley. It broke so many rules and protocols and the four months it took to convince Ava to agree to it was worth it when she saw how happy her wife looked. They swayed slowly to the music, Sara had her head resting on Ava’s shoulder and Ava held her impossibly close to her. 

Once that was over Sara and Quentin had a father-daughter dance. Ava stood on the side of the dance floor with Riley leaning against her as they watched the two of them. 

The song finished and Sara hugged her dad before leaving the dance floor and gently pulling Riley away from Ava. Quentin stepped in front of Ava and grabbed a hold of her hand before tugging her onto the dance floor.

“What are you doing?” Ava questioned with slight confusion in her tone as the soft music began to play once again. 

“Having our father-daughter dance,” Quentin said and Ava almost cried because it was such a sweet gesture that she wasn’t expecting. 

“Thank you for doing that,” Ava said softly when the song was over. 

“You don’t need to thank me, you’re my daughter now Ava, and even before you married Sara you’ve been a part of this family for a while now,” Quentin said and Ava didn’t say anything else instead she just engulfed him in a hug. 

Later that evening, most of the guests were pretty drunk and were having the time of their lives. 

“Come dance with me,” Sara said as she tugged on Ava’s hand. The taller woman let out a soft sigh but stood up from her seat anyway, because how could she say no to her wife when she looked the way she did; with her dress on and her hair and makeup was done flawlessly to go with the smile on her face that reached her eyes every time. 

“Okay, I need to take this off though it’s too hot,” Ava said referring to her blazer. She slipped out of it and laid it on the back of her chair, making sure there were no creases in it before she turned back to Sara. Who was now staring at her with the human form of heart eyes.

“Screw dancing, I wanna take you up to the room what do you say?” Sara practically growled in Ava’s ear, causing her cheeks to heat up and turn a deep shade of red. 

“I don’t think it would be very acceptable to sneak away from our own wedding,” Ava chuckled once she composed herself. 

“When have you known me to do things that were classed as acceptable? Come on, we can just go to the bathroom instead,” Sara suggested with a cheeky grin on her face. Her arms snaked around Ava’s waist as she pulled her closer to her in an attempt to convince her to go along with it. 

“We are not doing it for the first time as a married couple in the bathroom, now I believe I was invited over here to dance?” 

Sara rolled her eyes playfully and followed Ava onto the dancefloor. The two of them danced for most of the night, Riley kept running over to them before dashing off to play with William and a couple of other kids. 

Towards midnight most people began to leave and soon enough the only ones still standing were the Legends, Laurel, Quentin, Riley, Felicity, Thea, Oliver and William. They were all sitting around a table just talking until they slowly began to drop off. 

“I’m going to take her to bed, I’ll see you in the morning,” Quentin secured Riley in his arms before hugging his daughters and Ava. 

“Night Ry, be good for grandpa mama and I will see you in the morning,” Ava pressed a soft kiss to her sleeping daughter’s forehead before Quentin took her upstairs to bed. 

Felicity, Oliver, and William were the next ones to leave. Followed by Thea. 

“I think we’re going to head up now, we’ll see you guys in the morning. Stay out of trouble,” Sara said as she and Ava stood up to leave. 

“Use protection,” Nora called over her shoulder after them, which was followed by a wolf whistle from Charlie; which caused Ava’s cheeks to burn for the second time that night. 

The second they got in the elevator the two of them couldn’t keep their hands off of each other. Sara’s lips were on Ava’s neck as she raked her fingernails across Ava’s abs. The doors opened and they stumbled out and towards their room, only stopping a few times to make out against the wall. 

They reached their room and Ava had Sara pinned up against the door as she fumbled for the key, she quickly unlocked the door and was pulled inside the room by Sara. 

“Let’s go to the bed,” Ava said between kisses. Sara pulled away for a moment which earned an impatient whine from Ava. 

“Whatever you want Mrs. Lance,” Sara said with a smug smirk on her face. 

Their lips joined together in a desperate kiss as Sara moved them towards the bed. She backed Ava up until the back of her legs hit the edge of the bed. The two of them fell back onto it and Sara made quick work of removing Ava’s shirt. 

“Are you ready to have your mind blown, Mrs. Lance?” Sara questioned with a teasing smirk on her face and all Ava could do was nod her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the last one before the epilogue, thank you for sticking with this story for so long :)


	17. Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the last chapter. But I just wanna thank everyone who has stuck with this story because I have loved writing it and creating this little world for Sara and Ava. I also want to thank everyone who has taken their time to comment and like the story, I appreciate every single one of you. So let's get on with the last chapter I hope you enjoy it!!:))

“As much as I loved traveling across Europe for two weeks, it’s so nice to be home,” Ava said as she flopped down onto the couch face first. Sara quickly joined her, she laid half on top of Ava’s back and half on the couch. 

“Do you think we can get a nap in before Ry comes home?” Sara mumbled into Ava’s neck. The taller blonde tapped on her phone screen to look at the time before letting out a soft groan. 

“No, it’s almost four,” Ava sighed, but she closed her eyes anyway. 

The two of them had managed to fall asleep for around fifteen minutes before they heard the front door unlocking, which was then followed by a soft gasp from Riley when she noticed Sara and Ava’s bags by the door. 

“Mommy? Mama?” Riley called out.

“They might be upstairs,” Zari suggested. 

Riley nodded her head and quickly made her way upstairs, they heard her open and close the doors before wandering back downstairs. “They aren’t there,” she said with a soft pout on her face. She walked towards the kitchen and just as she walked past the couch Sara popped her head up and Riley couldn’t contain her excitement. She ran around to the other side of the couch and joined in with the cuddles.

“I missed you lots and lots,” Riley said into Sara’s chest as the woman sat up, so she could give her daughter a proper hug. 

“I missed you more,” Sara said before peppering Riley’s face with kisses. “Did you have fun while we were away?”

“Yep, Aunt Z let me have donuts for breakfast and we were with Giddy a lot, she still has her cool voice, and Uncle John taught me some magic spells so I can use my wand,” Riley said excitedly, Sara shot a glare in Zari’s direction when she heard that she had fed her daughter donuts for breakfast. “And then I went to watch hockey with grandpa and we had a hot dog and I got the puck, wait I’ll show you.”

Riley jumped off of Sara’s lap and ran upstairs to get the puck. Ava finally woke up when they heard a loud thud, the two women shot up from the couch and realized that Riley had fallen down the stairs. 

“It’s okay sweetheart, you’re okay,” Sara said as Ava scooped the small girl up into her arms, she was still clutching onto the puck tightly. 

“It hurts mommy,” Riley said between sobs. 

Usually, Riley didn’t cry when she got hurt and she tried her best to hide it, which is a habit she still has from living with her uncle. But the fact that she was openly telling them she was hurting as well as crying told them just how bad the pain was. And it made them worry a lot more. 

“What hurts honey?” Ava questioned softly, she tried to keep her voice calm as they made their way over to the couch and sat down so they could get a proper look at Riley and see where she was injured. 

“My arm and my head,” she hiccuped into Ava’s chest, the tears still rolling down her cheeks no matter how hard she tried to control them. 

“Can I take a look at your arm baby,” Sara questioned and Riley nodded her head and Sara noticed it immediately. Her arm was clearly broken, the bone had moved completely. 

“Aves we need to get her to Gideon,” Sara whispered, and Ava’s eyes widened in shock when she looked down and saw her arm. 

“Baby, we need to take you to see Giddy okay?” Sara explained and Riley nodded her head. The sobs had mostly subsided but there were still the odd tears rolling down her cheeks. 

Zari opened a portal right into the med bay for them and Ava rushed over to one of the chairs and carefully placed Riley into it. She hooked her up with the bracelet and Gideon began her analysis. 

“I’ll give you guys some space, let me know if you need anything,” Zari said before leaving the room. 

Sara and Ava were standing beside the bed and looking down at Riley. She was in so much pain and it was evident on her face. Ava was gently stroking the top of her hair to try and calm the girl and it seemed to be working until Riley moved and the hockey puck that was still in her other hand hit the broken bone, Sara quickly took it from her hand and slipped the puck into her back pocket. 

“Mommy it hurts, please make it stop. I don’t like it,” Riley sobbed and both Sara and Ava’s hearts broke for the small girl. She was in so much pain and there was nothing they could do to help her. 

“Captain I have finished my analysis, it appears she has broken her arm in two places and she has a mild concussion from hitting her head. I can now begin the healing process but I will need to sedate her,” Gideon explained. 

“Okay baby, Gideon has to put you to sleep for a little while so that she can fix your arm and stop you from hurting,” Sara explained and she could see the fear in her daughter's eyes. “Don’t worry, mommy and I are going to be by your side the entire time, you’re gonna be okay.”

Riley just nodded her head in response. “Okay Gideon get to it.”

“Right away Captain.”

Gideon began her process, she started with Riley’s head because that was the more serious injury even if it was only a mild concussion before she moved onto her arm. Ava and Sara sat down beside her the entire time as Sara promised, they mostly sat in silence just watching over their daughter, until Ava spoke up. 

“I know Gideon is going to fix her and it will be like nothing ever happened but this is scary, it’s her first big injury,” Ava said quietly, not taking her eyes off of Riley once. 

“I know, when Laurel was younger and she had her first big injury my dad cried, she fell over and split her head open, I never really understood why he was so upset over it because it was fixed right away and she was completely fine after it. But now I know, because she’s hurting and there is nothing we can do to take her pain away,” Sara said as she squeezed Ava’s hand. 

“Captain her head and arm are completely healed, once the sedative has worn off I suggest keeping her on the ship for a few hours so I can monitor her, I also suggest that she should take it easy for a week or so and that means no hockey I’m afraid,” Gideon explained and she actually sounded sad for the small girl when she ruled out playing hockey for a little while.

“Thank you, Gideon,” Ava let out a relieved sigh. 

Around half an hour later Riley began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times before looking around the room. She panicked for a moment because she couldn’t remember where she was until she saw her moms sitting on chairs beside her. 

“Hey baby, how are you feeling? No, no don’t try to sit up you’re still all funny from the sedative,” Sara said and Riley laid her head back against the chair. 

“Let’s get you somewhere comfier,” Ava said softly, she carefully scooped Riley up into her arms. They took her to Sara’s bunk and laid her down in the middle of the bed. The two women sat on each side of her and they huddled up under the covers. 

“You know when I thought about us coming home from the honeymoon, I didn’t expect it to be like this,” Ava chuckled softly. 

“Me neither,” Sara said before pausing for a moment before speaking again. “So who’s gonna tell her she can’t play hockey for a couple of weeks? She is going to be so upset.”

“You can,” Ava said and Sara didn’t even have to look at her to know that there was a smirk on her face. 

“No, I think I’ll leave that down to you.”

“Uh uh, no you can tell her, I’m her favorite I don’t want to be the one to upset her with the news.”

“You’re her favorite? I don’t think so babe, I think I’m her favorite. I let her eat all the junk food she wants.”

“You let her eat junk food? Sara! She has to be healthy she’s still growing and-”

“Aves, that’s what being a kid is all about eating too much sugar until you throw up, it’s basically a right of passage,” Sara said and she was staring up at the ceiling so she didn’t notice the way Ava’s face dropped at her words. 

The playful feeling within Ava was gone and it was replaced by doubt. It hit her that she didn’t know the first thing about being a kid and she didn’t want to ruin Riley’s childhood by not allowing her to eat sugar and climb on things and all the other stuff that makes Ava slightly anxious. She was just going off of what the parenting books told her, rather than trusting her motherly instincts. 

But Sara didn’t realize Ava’s change in emotion and carried on speaking. “Besides you make sure she eats enough fruit and vegetables to cancel out the sugar and she likes fruit a lot which is kind of weird because most kids-”

Sara stopped speaking the second she turned to look at Ava and noticed the sad look on her face. 

“Ava? What’s wrong?”

Ava brought her hand up to wipe her eyes quickly and she just shook her head to try and convince Sara that she’s fine, but the Captain knew her way too well to believe that. 

“Come on Aves, were always telling Ry to use her words, so you have to use yours too,” Sara said as she stood up from the bed and walked around to the other side, she crouched down beside Ava and gently wiped her cheeks with her thumbs. 

“It’s stupid really, I don’t even know why it made me feel like this.”

“What is it babes, was it something I said?” Sara questioned but the second the words left her mouth it dawned on her what she had said. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t thinking.”

“No it’s not your fault it’s my own, I should be over the whole clone thing by now it’s been over two years. I just sometimes I feel like such an incompetent mom, I can’t relate to her or how she’s feeling because the only experience I have as a kid is from the summer camp mission.” Ava sat up on the bed and quickly wiped away the stray tears that were rolling down her cheeks. “I feel so stupid that a comment about kids eating too much sugar is making me feel this way, I wish I could just be like you, you’re such a good mom and she loves you so much, and you don’t panic over her eating too much sugar and it’s just- I-”

“Don’t do that, it doesn’t matter how long ago you found out about the whole clone thing it’s a big thing and it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to be okay with it,” Sara paused for a moment and tucked a strand of hair behind Ava’s ear. “And you’re an amazing mom, Riley loves you so much. Besides, one of us has to be the mature one and make her eat something healthy.”

Ava let out a watery chuckle, “I guess you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Mommy?” Riley’s voice was laced with tiredness as she softly called out for Ava. The two women quickly turned to look at her to make sure she was okay. 

“How are you feeling honey?” Ava questioned. 

“I feel hungry,” Riley said as she slowly sat up in the bed, Ava playfully rolled her eyes because of course, she was hungry. The small girl loved food almost as much as she loved to read, and that was a lot. 

“Okay, let’s go get some food huh? What are you thinking, chicken nuggets? Pasta? Anything you want you can have,” Sara said and Riley’s eyes lit up at that. She jumped up out of bed and ran towards the kitchen. 

“Giddy can I have Mac and cheese with the little red squares in like mommy makes, please,” Riley questioned as she looked up at the ceiling. 

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean by red squares,” Gideon said and Riley just frowned.

“The little red squares, sometimes they can be crunchy but not in the mac and cheese.”

“I’m still unsure what you mean by little red squares.”

“She means red peppers Gideon, cut up into little cubes,” Sara quickly explained when she and Ava entered the kitchen. “Also can you make that for all of the team please Gid.”

Gideon got to work and Riley made it her mission to gather all of the legends and bring them to the kitchen so that they could eat. 

“Uncle John,” Riley called putting as she knocked on his bedroom door. The other legends were standing in a line behind her, even Mick had agreed to join. She knocked again when he didn’t respond. “Uncle Jo-”

“You’re impatient you know,” John responded as he tied the robe a little tighter to make sure it didn’t fall open. “Now what do you want you little monster?”

“We’re having mac and cheese with the little red squares in like mommy makes, but Giddy is making it today,” she explained excitedly. 

“Oh.”

John moved out of the doorway slightly and Riley let out an excited gasp when she noticed Gary sat on the bed with the covers pooled at his waist. “Hi, uncle Gary!”

“Okay, let’s go,” Zari said as she put her hands on Riley’s shoulders and guided her away from the door and towards the kitchen. 

“But-” 

“Nope, get your butt into the kitchen,” Zari said and Riley frowned up and the woman and carried on walking to the kitchen. 

“Where’s John?” Sara questioned, she knew he found it hard to say no to Riley even when he really didn’t want to do something. 

“He’s in his room, but Aunt Z made us leave him alone, but don’t worry he’s not lonely Uncle Gary was there I think they’re just sleepy because he was in bed,” Riley said and Sara’s eyes widened, she glanced up at the legends with a hint of panic in her eyes, because she definitely didn’t want her daughter seeing anything they could’ve been doing. 

“Don’t worry, Z pulled her away before she saw any more than she already did,” Nate was quick to reassure the Captain. 

Sara just nodded her head and everyone took their usual places around the table. Halfway through the meal Sara looked at Ava and the Director nodded her head, she knew exactly what her wife was saying without her even using words. 

“Ry, mommy and I need to tell you something,” Sara said and Riley’s eyes widened in excitement. 

“Are you having a baby? Because my friend is having a baby sister and I want one too,” she said excitedly. 

“We aren’t having a baby, it’s about earlier when you hurt yourself,” Ava said and Riley just looked at her with a confused look on her face. “You can’t play hockey for a little while, because we don’t want you to hurt your head again.”

“Oh, okay, but I have my first real game tomorrow,” Riley said as she stared down at the food on her plate with a sad pout on her face. 

“I know baby, but it can wait you can have your first game in a couple of weeks when your head is completely better, we can still go and watch if you want to?” Sara suggested but Riley shook her head. 

“No I don’t want to,” Riley sounded so sad and it broke everyone’s heart, she was usually so bright and bubbly, it was a little weird seeing her so quiet and sad. “Can I call grandpa?” 

“Of course you can baby, here you go,” Sara pulled her phone from her pocket and quickly found her dad's contact information before dialing the number. 

Ray had altered all of their phones to be able to make and receive calls whilst they were in the temporal zone because it got a little difficult relying on Stein’s invention when more than one person wanted to call someone. 

Riley took the phone from Sara and slowly walked out of the kitchen with it pressed to her ear. She wandered down the hallway and towards the parlour, where she curled up in a little ball on the brown leather chair with the phone still pressed to her ear as she waited for Quentin to answer. 

“Hey Sara, is everything okay? How was the honeymoon?” Quentin’s voice filtered through the phone's speakers. 

“Hi grandpa,” Riley said softly. 

“Oh, hey sweetheart, are you okay?” 

“No, I’m sad.”

“Why? What’s going on Ry?” He questioned quickly, his voice full of concern. 

“I fell on the stairs and hit my head and hurt my arm, Giddy fixed me but mommy says I can’t play hockey for two weeks.”

“You hit your head?” He exclaimed and Riley just hummed. “It’s okay, these two weeks will fly by and then you can play and I will be front row to cheer you on.”

“Really?”

“Of course, where else would I be sweetheart?” He questioned and Riley just shrugged her shoulders even though Quentin couldn’t see her. “And remember we’re going to watch the Stars play this weekend if you’re feeling up to it with your head,” Quentin added, and that was one of the perks of being the Mayor of Star City he could get tickets to any sports game he wanted, he just never had anyone to join him until Riley came along. 

“Mhmm, I can wear my jersey.” 

“That’s the spirit, I gotta go back to work sweetheart, but I will call you tomorrow to see how that head of yours is doing, you never know you might need a head transplant,” Quentin joked causing Riley to let out a soft giggle. 

“Goodbye grandpa, I love you lots and lots.”

“Bye Ry, I love you too.”

The call ended and Riley stayed in the chair curled up. She quickly decided to use Sara’s phone to watch some videos with facts about lions. When she went onto the YouTube app there were already multiple videos about lions being recommended to her so she clicked on the top one and it began to play. 

“Did you call grandpa?” Ava asked as she made her way over to Riley. The small girl nodded her head and turned her attention back to the video. “How are you feeling? Does your head still feel okay?” Ava questioned, she crouched down beside her and gently pushed a loose strand of hair from Riley’s face. 

“It feels good, I’m watching a lion video,” Riley said, she turned the phone towards Ava so that she could see the video. 

“That looks interesting.”

“It is, it said that a lion and tiger can have a baby so it would be a stripey Lion! How cool is that!” 

Ava let out a soft chuckle at her daughter’s excitement. “That would be pretty cool, but come on we’re going home you need to sleep,” Ava said and Riley let out a frustrated whine but followed her mom anyway. 

The next couple of weeks flew by and before they knew it they were getting ready to take Riley to her first-ever hockey game. The small girl was so excited she was practically bouncing off of the walls. 

“Mama come on I wanna go,” Riley whined from her seat on the bottom step. They were waiting for Quentin and Laurel to arrive so that they could all go to the game together. 

“We will soon baby, we have to wait for Aunt Laurel and Grandpa,” Sara said, taking a seat next to her. 

Moments later Laurel and Quentin walked through the front door. They were both wearing matching hockey jerseys with Lance on the back and the number 15 to match Riley, Sara and Ava were both wearing the same jersey too. 

“Can we go now?” Riley asked and Sara nodded her head, the small girl grabbed the hockey stick and ran out of the door. 

“Well hello to you too,” Laurel said sarcastically when Riley just ran past her without even acknowledging her. 

They made it to the game and there were a couple of kids there already, they were out on the ice just skating around. 

“Come here let me tie your laces,” Sara said and Riley sat down and placed both feet on Sara’s thighs so that she could tie the skating boots up for her. Ava slipped the helmet onto her head and made sure it was properly secured before she finally made her way onto the ice with the biggest smile on her face. 

They took their seats and just before the game was about to begin the Legends arrived each of them wearing the matching jersey, even Constantine was wearing it under his trench coat. 

Towards the end of the game Riley scored a goal, she turned to look at everyone with a huge smile on her face. Quentin was practically jumping with joy and Sara and Ava were smiling from ear to ear at their daughter. She gave them a quick thumbs-up, but she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and tripped over another kid’s hockey stick. 

She slid on the ice and landed on her stomach. They all stood up from their seats to make sure she was okay and Ava was prepared to walk across the ice to make sure she was okay. Luckily she didn’t have to though because the small girl jumped up from the ground and looked at them with the same huge grin on her face as she gave them another thumbs up before carrying on with the game. 

The game was soon over and Riley’s team won. The small girl was over the moon, she hadn’t stopped smiling since she got off of the ice. Sara helped take her boots off while Ava packed all of her things into the bag. 

“Can we get ice cream now?” Riley questioned as they were heading to the car after saying goodbye to the legends. 

“Later, we have to go to the courthouse remember, we’re finalizing the adoption today Ry,” Sara explained and Riley’s eyes lit up again. 

Quentin drove them down to the courthouse and the three of them got out of the car, “I’ll call you when we’re done,” Sara said before getting out. 

They hurried into the building, where they were led to the small waiting room area. It was filled with old magazines and the chairs were covered in an uncomfortable plastic that squeaked anytime someone moved. 

“Is it going to be scary?” Riley questioned as she looked up at Ava with her big round eyes.

“Not at all, it’s going to be exciting,” Ava quickly reassured her and soon after that a woman made her way over to them and led them into the courtroom.

“Are you ready to be a Lance?” Sara asked with a soft smile on her face. Riley nodded her head, and the two women could tell she was a little nervous because she refused to let go of Ava’s hand the entire time. 

The room was fairly small and there were already people at the front looking over some papers. They took their seats and a few more people filtered into the room before they stood up when the judge arrived. He was a friendly-looking old man with thick-rimmed glasses and white curly hair on top of his head.

He introduced himself and the process began, they were sworn in and then the judge proceeded to ask Sara and Ava questions about the adoption. 

That was over fairly quickly and all that was left were a few things for them to sign. After that, the judge sent somebody to collect Riley’s new birth certificate. The woman came rushing back into the room with it and just like that the whole process was over and Riley was officially theirs. 

The judge asked Riley if she wanted to bang the gavel, she glanced up at both Sara and Ava with a nervous look on her face. 

“Go on,” Sara tried to convince her and Riley nodded her head and made her way over to the judge. The second she hit the gavel she had the biggest smile on her face, Ava took a couple of pictures of her before the courtroom was dismissed and they could go home. 

Sara quickly called Quentin to pick them up, but he was already there waiting for them. 

“Ry remember to show aunt Laurel this, and for the love of god please don’t drop it,” Sara said as she handed the birth certificate to Riley. The small girl nodded her head and ran towards the car, with the certificate tight in her grip. 

“Hey baby Lance,” Laurel said with a grin on her face. 

“Aunt Laurel look,” Riley said as she handed the certificate to her aunt. “We have the same name!” she exclaimed excitedly.

Laurel looked down at the piece of paper in her hands and felt her eyes fill with tears when she saw the name. 

Riley Laurel Lance.

“You named her after me?” Laurel questioned softly as she tried to hold back the tears and Riley nodded her head with a huge grin on her face. 

“Mhmm were matching,” Riley said still over the moon about it. 

“Of course we did, Ava suggested giving her a middle name and what better name than her favorite person's name,” Sara added with a smile, Laurel quickly wiped her eyes and looked at the three of them with the biggest smile on her face. 

“So little Lance, this ice cream situation, what are you thinking?” Quentin turned in his seat to look at his granddaughter and her eyes lit up at the thought of ice cream. 

“Chocolate and strawberry,” Riley responded, and with that Quentin nodded his head and drove to the ice cream parlor where they go after watching a hockey game. 

Sara was leaning against Ava with the proudest smile on her face. Ava had a matching smile going from ear to ear. 

Riley was officially their daughter. She had a birth certificate to prove it. 

When Ava and Sara met neither of them thought this is how their relationship would turn out. To be honest, Ava thought they’d end up killing each other, but she is glad they didn’t because they wouldn’t be here living this life. 

It was also nice to see Riley come out of her shell and trust people more. She was still very shy around strangers and there was nothing she loved more than cuddles with her moms, which was a far cry from when they first met and she hated when people touched her. But she learned that nobody was ever going to hurt her because they were her family now and they loved her more than anything, and only wanted her to be happy; which she was. 

Sara and Ava were happier than they had ever been, they were in love with each other and they had a kid. It felt kind of like a dream because it was so perfect.

Sara never imagined that her life would turn out this way, not even before everything that happened with the Queen’s Gambit. She never expected to be married to the love of her life, her soulmate, and raise a kid with her. But she was so happy it turned out that way because there is nothing she loves more than spending time with Ava and Riley. 

"I love you so much," Ava whispered into the top of Sara's head.

"I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's it, thank you for reading!! I’m planning on writing a sequel I’m not sure when it will be out but I’m starting writing it very soon

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! As always let me know what you thought in the comments :))


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